


Lost In Time

by pm10261



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gwen Bashing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:15:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 39,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pm10261/pseuds/pm10261
Summary: Jack and Ianto are transported to a different time.  Tosh and Owen have to find a way to get them back. Gwen is Gwen.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Another old pic. The Polari is what was used in the time. A bit of Gwen bashing. I love history and research, and it was interesting finding out these facts. The Alan Turing memorial is in Manchester, and I hope, one day, to get there and see it.

**Title:** Lost in Time

 **Author:** pmw10261

 **Artist:** The Silver Sun

 **Genre:** Um, not sure, au, time travel

 **Pairing:** Ianto & Jack

 **Rating:** M15+

 **Word Count:** 39,595

 **Beta:** by the wonderful myfanwyfliesatnight - Melinda you are fantastic

**Summary:** A device transport Ianto and Jack to another time

**Note** \- This story wouldn't be any where readable without Melinda, she is wonderful and gave freely of her time and such wonderful suggestions to make this a much, much better story.

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is a real place, and was as described, a place for men of a certain persuasion could go. The memorial to Alan Mathison Turing at the location described and, yes there is a computer buried under the statue. I have tried to research as much as possible, the stories told about people are from stories of the time, from people who were there. The Polari language was used at the time, and parts is still used today. I love to research and have tried to use places and situations from the era.

**Another of my previous stories, this one was written 2011**

**Chapter One**

“Ianto, where are you?” yelled Jack.

“Jack, I’m filing,” came a distant reply.

“Come on, Yan,” he whispered, switching on his comm link, “which room are you hiding in?”

Jack could hear him moving around and he was trying to find out which room Ianto was working in; it was a game he loved to play, sort of like naked hide and seek but with clothes on.

“I just want to... Oh, Jack, that’s not fair... I need to...” The words were cut off as Jack found his quarry and kissed him on the back of his neck.

“Oh, Yan, I need you...” The kiss turned into a bite, then Jack’s tongue laved over the red mark.

“Jack, I need to put... ohhhh.” Ianto’s knees grew weak as Jack’s tongue found that one special spot just behind his ear.

“I need you, Yan; I can’t wait!” Jack spun Ianto around, kissing, biting, and licking his neck as he loosened Ianto’s tie, and pulled out his shirt.

Ianto was just as busy, his hands running over Jack’s chest, working his way around Jack’s waist, and pulling him closer.

Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto’s waist and lifted him up onto the table, pulling him forward, closer to him.

The force of Ianto landing on the table and the movement of pulling him forward rattled a box that was on the table, tipping it over. Unnoticed by either man, the contents, one of them, an oval-shaped device, quickly rolled towards the men.

As Jack leaned forward, pushing Ianto onto his back, he placed both of his hands on the table, using his body and mouth to gently lay Ianto down.

Suddenly the wrist strap on Jack’s left arm touched the oval-shaped device, and the device began to tick.

Both men froze in mid-kiss, their lips sealed together as their eyes shot open.

Tick

Tick

Tick

**Tock**

The flash of light was blinding, and both Jack and Ianto felt as if they were being yanked forward by their stomachs. Jack grabbed Ianto tightly in his arms; Ianto pressed himself firmly up against Jack’s chest, burying his head in his lover’s neck.

They disappeared.

The only sound in the room now was that of the device as it tocked.

Tock

Tock

Tock

**Tick**

The room was empty. A few papers had been blown onto the floor, and the device now lay innocently amongst the other items from the box. There was a slight smell of lemons lingering in the air, but there was no one left to notice. Up in the corner, the red light on the CCTV kept blinking and recording the now empty room.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

The two men landed hard; Ianto on the bottom, Jack on top of him. Ianto, because he had been lying back on a table that wasn’t there any more, landed hard on the ground, hitting his head on the rubble.

Without moving, Jack looked around as much as he could. They seemed to have landed in a building site, or the remains of a building; there was rubble all around them. The room was dark, with only dim rays of light coming from somewhere above them.

“Yan, you okay?” Standing up, he reached down and helped Ianto to his feet.

“Whoa, bit unsteady here. Are you hurt?” The Welshman brushed ineffectually at the dust on his suit jacket. He sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose in a way that Jack found absolutely endearing.

“Lemons, Jack, can you taste lemons?” He licked his lips and the found the same flavour – lemons.

“Hey, sweetie, are you hurt? Let me have a look.” Jack ran his hands over Ianto, checking for blood and other injuries. “You knocked your head pretty hard.”

He turned Ianto around to get a better look. “There’s a cut on the back your head.” Looking in his pockets, he found a hanky, checked it was clean, folded it up and pressed it gently onto Ianto’s head. “I think this is gonna need stitches.”

Jack took a better look around. “I can see why! We landed on the floor; there is no table, and this isn’t the Archives.”

“Well, where are we then?”

“No idea,” Jack shrugged. “You okay to go outside and have a look around?”

Ianto nodded, and then decided that nodding wasn’t the best idea. He turned a bit paler as the throbbing pain in his head made him feel queasy.

Jack looked at Ianto, worried, and then gently took his hand and began to lead the way. He quickly found a door and opened it gingerly.

“Nothing, steps; let’s go up.”

The steps led to a light ahead. When they got to the top, they saw they were at street level. Jack quickly realised that they were in a house, a partially demolished house.

“Looks like it’s been bombed.” Ianto looked around at the destroyed building.

As they moved towards the front of the block, Jack heard movement ahead of them.

Jack pushed Ianto behind him, and then watched a horse and cart go down the street. A man, dressed in a fawn-coloured coat with a striped apron around his waist, was jogging back and forth, taking bottles from doorsteps and replacing them with full bottles.

He was delivering fresh milk to the homes in the neighbourhood. Ianto peeked around Jack and watched, fascinated, as the horse stopped and started without direction from the man.

Ianto looked around, then at Jack; “He’s human?” nodding towards the milkman. “He looks human to me.”

“Yup. I’d say we haven’t travelled in space, but time.” He looked at his manipulator, pressed a few buttons and frowned. “According to this, we are in 1953, and by the coordinates, London.”

“1953!”

“Yup, so let’s get you to the local hospital. They’ll be able to stitch up your head. Here, let me look at your eyes; they look fine, don’t think you have concussion. Don’t want them to admit you. Hey, Mister!” Jack yelled over to the milkman. “Where’s the nearest hospital? My friend here has fallen and cut his head.”

“Go down the main road a bit; turn right about a mile down. The local hospital is down the Milne Road, another mile about. There should be a bus, number twelve, that goes right by the hospital, goes every half hour.” He paused on his way back to the milk wagon and looked at them curiously. Jack felt he had to do a little damage control before the man started asking questions they couldn’t answer.

“Thanks; think he may have one too many beers last night and we shouldn’t have taken that shortcut through here.” Jack jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the ruined building behind them. “Too much rubble for a drunk to get over and he tripped. Thanks, mate.”

“Been there myself, mate.” The milkman tipped his hat and continued on his way, his curiosity satisfied.

“Come on Ianto, let’s get your head checked out and stitched up.” Ianto looked surprised when Jack just headed off.

“Jack, wait.”

Jack stopped, but as soon as Ianto got close, he started walking again.

“Jack, what’s wrong? Why you being... distant?” Ianto was confused. Jack was a very tactile person on a normal day, but whenever Ianto was hurt, Jack always had at least one hand on him, using his touch to comfort Ianto as well as reassure himself that his young lover was all right. Today, Ianto was hurt and more than a little scared, and he was really missing the soothing feeling of Jack’s hand.

With a sigh, Jack paused and waited until Ianto was standing next to him. He looked around, but they appeared to be alone; he couldn’t see anyone else in their vicinity. He faced Ianto and sighed again. He couldn’t think of an easy way to tell Ianto the truth about the time they had stumbled into.

“The fifties, Ianto, especially the early fifties, are not a good time for men to be together; we have to be very careful and very circumspect in our behaviour. I don’t want you to be sent to prison, and it can happen very easily.”

“What! Prison?” Ianto was aghast and a feeling of paranoia slammed him in the gut. He tried to nonchalantly take a few steps away from Jack, all the time fighting the urge to look around to see who was watching them. He thought back to the milkman; had he said or done anything that might make the man suspicious of them?

Jack could see a spark of fear flare in Ianto’s eyes at the word ‘prison’, and he wanted nothing more at that moment than to take the Welshman in his arms and tell him that everything would be okay. “I’ll explain later. First thing, and most important, is to get your head looked at. I’ll drop you down at the hospital. Then I’ll find a bank. I should be able to access some money without too many problems and I’ll meet you back at the hospital.” He waited for Ianto to nod gingerly before he continued.

“Now,” Jack sighed again; why couldn’t they have gone forward in time. It would have been easier and so much safer. “Give me your comms, your mobile, any ballpoint pens, lube, condoms. Anything you have that wouldn’t be found in this time period.”

Reluctantly, Ianto handed it all over to Jack. “Better give me your wallet as well, just in case. We don’t want the nurses to check that. You’ll have a key card, credit cards, driver’s license, none of which is from this time.” Ianto handed over his wallet.

“But what will I do for ID?”

“Just say you banged your head on the way home last night, woke up with your head cut and your wallet missing. You should be fine. Work out your year of birth now, so when they ask you, you won’t have to think about the answer.” Jack tucked Ianto’s belongings away in his pockets, and then automatically leaned in to give him a kiss, realised what he was about to do, sighed deeply and turned to walk on. Ianto followed sadly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Tosh was sitting at her station, idly checking previous Rift spikes, looking for patterns.

Gwen was on her mobile, chatting, or was it arguing, with Rhys. Lots of angry-sounding hissed comments could be heard from her.

Owen was also at his desk, leaning back in his chair, feet up on the desk, joystick and keyboard in his lap. He was busily engaged in his favourite pastime, blowing up aliens on the computer.

All in all, it was business as usual on a quiet afternoon at Torchwood.

“Shit, lost again! Okay, girls,” Owen threw the controller back on his desk, “Do’ya think Jack will let us go early? He’s gone down to the Archives; don’t expect him to be back for a while; Ianto’s down there.” He leered at Gwen, who covered her mobile and giggled. “Bet they’re at it like rabbits by now. Fancy trying the new pub up near...”

The loud klaxon cut him off.

“What the hell is that?” Owen dashed over to Tosh’s side and peered at her monitors, while Gwen apologised to Rhys and snapped her mobile shut. Silently, she thanked the Rift for giving her an excuse to hang up; Rhys had been off on another one of his rants about her never coming home in time for dinner.

“Energy spike... big one.” Tosh scanned her screen and pointed at the graph for Owen’s benefit. “Down in the Archives.”

“But Jack just went down there! Is he okay?” Gwen’s mobile rang and she glanced at the caller ID; it was Rhys again. With a roll of her eyes that Ianto would have been proud of, she sent the call to voice mail and silenced the ringer. She was more concerned with Jack’s well-being than with her husband’s nagging about missed dinners.

“Yeah, he went down a few minutes ago to shag the Tea-Boy... What’s happening down there? Tosh, is there something down there?” Owen yelled, trying to be heard as he headed across the floor to the weapon’s locker.

“Can you get …” Suddenly the klaxon stopped.

The sudden quiet was deafening, making Gwen’s shouting that much louder; “…a visual on…”

Thankful that she didn’t have to screech any more, she looked at Tosh’s monitors as though they all made sense to her. “That’s not an alarm I’ve heard before.” Gwen commented into the suddenly quiet room. “Do you think Jack will be okay?” She repeated her earlier question.

“The spike came from the main storage area, where items are placed before they are archived.” Tosh pointed to the Archive schematic and the red dot that was flashing angrily.

“Should we just go down there and see, or what?” Gwen was at her station, rummaging through her handbag and then through her desk drawers for her weapon.

Tosh checked her screen again. “No life form readings from that room, but there should be CCTV.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard and within seconds, a visual of the area in question sprang up on the main view screen. There was no one to be seen.

“No life signs; you mean Jack could be dead down there?” Gwen had finally found her handgun and was heading for the stairs.

“Ianto’s down there as well, Gwen; if something has happened to them, Jack will come back, but Ianto won’t.” Tosh, her voice heavy with concern, continued typing madly, accessing other CCTV views of the Archives.

Owen put a comforting hand on Tosh’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, you know Jack wouldn’t let anything happen to his Ianto, or heaven help anyone who hurts him.”

“His Ianto?” Gwen stopped dead in her tracks at the top of the stairs and turned to look at her teammates. “What do you mean _his_ Ianto?” Her voice was strident, her face ugly.

“Yes, Gwen, _his_ Ianto,” replied Owen. He enjoyed seeing the flush of confusion and then anger cross Gwen’s face. “As in _his_ lover, _his_ boyfriend, _his_ favourite shag.” The medic knew she was completely aware that Jack and Ianto were in a serious relationship, and her continued denial of the fact irked him to no end.

“Now Tosh, can we see the CCTV? Is it still active?” Satisfied that Gwen was going to be quiet on the topic of Ianto and Jack, Owen turned his attention back to the monitors.

The live-feed CCTV was functioning properly, but all it showed was an empty room, nobody – and no bodies – in sight. The only things amiss were some papers on the floor and an overturned, partially empty, cardboard box of unidentifiable objects.

Owen was growing more and more concerned. “Not like the Tea-Boy to be messy.” He didn’t want to worry Tosh more than she already was, but Owen knew that all alarms were automatically routed to Jack’s wrist strap. If he was still down in the Archives, he would have heard the signal and responded immediately, even if only over the comm.

“I’ll go back half an hour; that’s the last time I heard him on the comms.” Tosh set the recording to start half an hour before.

The three of them were glued to the scenes on Tosh’s monitors, watching as Ianto worked methodically, sorting items from the week for storage. He had just put down a pair of novelty alien sunglasses that allowed the wearer to see people in the nude. Owen grinned; he’d snuck those out of the Hub a few days before and had thoroughly enjoyed just walking around Cardiff Bay, taking in the ‘view’. ‘ _I wonder where the Tea-Boy’s gonna store those?’_ Ianto was filling in the description paperwork for the Archive box when Jack came into the room.

“Tosh, is there sound?” asked Owen.

“Yes; well, there should be, but whatever caused the spike has wiped the sound; we’re lucky we still have the visuals.” Toshiko typed in a few keystrokes and shook her head. “Sorry.”

The trio watched as Jack came into the room and walked straight over to stand with his front pressed firmly against Ianto’s back. They saw him place kisses on Ianto’s neck, and then lick all the places he kissed. They gazed at the screen as Ianto leaned his head back onto Jack’s shoulder so that Jack could suckle at his throat.

Toshiko was wondering if she should speed up the video; she was a little embarrassed for her friend that they were watching him and Jack. Owen was grimacing as Jack ran his hand down Ianto’s belly to cup his crotch, and Gwen was simply staring, open-mouthed, as the scene played out before her.

Jack gripped Ianto by the shoulders and spun him around so they were face-to-face. Their kissing became more intense, and they began to frantically pull their clothing apart.

“Would you please fast forward! I have no desire to see what Jack and Ianto do as foreplay. I don’t have enough brain bleach.” Owen snarked.

Both Tosh and Gwen were now open-mouthed, staring at the screen. Gwen’s breath hitched when Jack began to push Ianto down on the table and her eyes narrowed with jealousy. _‘That should be me down there with Jack, not Ianto!’_

Jack put his arms on either side of Ianto, resting them on the table. As he moved against Ianto, the table rocked. Within moments, the table was being rocked quite vigorously, as Jack and Ianto became more amorous with one another.

“Heaven help us, it’s work time.” Owen rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t the Tea-Boy have better things…”

Suddenly both men disappeared.

A small, oval-shaped item could be seen lying right beside where the two men had been just seconds before.

“What happened? Where did they go?” Gwen cried out. “Where’s Jack!”

Tosh frantically typed away. “I’m looking at the environment in the room, scanning it for all known substances, to see if anything was released by whatever happened. We can’t go down there until I’m sure it’s safe for us.”

Owen and Gwen watched her work; the medic was making a list of medical equipment and supplies to take with him, just in case. Gwen, on the other hand, was busy making a mental list of all the reasons why Jack should want her instead of Ianto.

“Hope Jack is okay,” Gwen said to no one in particular. “Don’t know what I’d do without him.”

Owen looked at her, his extreme irritation with her and her selfish, cavalier attitude clear on his face and in his voice. “It isn’t Jack you should be worrying about, Gwen! Nothing will kill him, well, keep him _dead_ anyway, but Tea-Boy, he’s mortal.”

“Yeah, of course, Ianto as well.” But Gwen didn’t sound worried about him at all.

“I think I’ve found something!” Tosh finally announced, and again they gathered around her computer.

“I did several different scans for all known substances as well as for a lack of normally found substances and the computer found there was a spike in Seritian energy. I checked the Archive logs and the only thing we have found recently with the same energy signature was that device Jack said was an ‘Education Expander.’

“Yeah, I know what sort of education Jack likes, the sort requiring no clo… OW!” Owen rubbed the back of his head where Gwen had hit him.

“Jack said it was broken.” Gwen offered as she stared daggers at the medic. He glowered right back at her, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

“No, not broken,” Tosh corrected, as she tapped away at her keyboard. “He said the power supply was empty, that the batteries had run down.” Tosh pulled up the CCTV again, glaring at Owen and Gwen, as if daring them to continue bickering. “So when I run the footage with a filter that detects Seritian energy, this is what we get.”

They watched the footage a second time. Jack spun Ianto around to face him; they kissed frantically and started to pull each other’s shirts out of their trousers. Jack pushed Ianto back against the table. Jack put his arms on the table, leaning over Ianto. He started rocking into Ianto, who arched up to him. They could see the table start rocking faster as the lover’s movements became more and more frantic. At the top of the screen, they watched as a cardboard box toppled over and an oval-shaped device rolled towards the two men.

Suddenly, a blue glow appeared and moved over Jack, starting at his wrist, and then engulfing his body. Everywhere Jack and Ianto were touching – their lips, chests, groins and legs – the blue glow travelled from Jack over Ianto. When both men totally shrouded in blue, they disappeared.

“Whoa!” Owen whispered; he was having trouble believing his own eyes.

“Exactly. If you look closely,” Tosh pulled up the footage just when the blue glow started and enlarged the frame. “It starts near Jack’s left wrist.”

“That’s where his wrist strap is.” Gwen squeaked.

“Yes, I believe the wrist strap activated the Education Expander, and it seems to have taken them somewhere ‘educational’.” Tosh tried for a little levity, but she could tell it fell flat.

“Educational!” Gwen shrieked loudly. “He could have gone anywhere in the Universe by now!”

“I did a quick check of the archival records on the Educational Expander.” Tosh ignored her team-mate’s outburst. “They are used to give students hands-on, real-time experience, by transporting them to the actual time period they are studying.”

“But it says here you only get to see the time, not be transported to the time?” Owen was reading over her shoulder.

“I think it physically transported them for two reasons. First, whatever the power is in the wrist strap, it’s much stronger than the device is used to, and second, the wrist strap is used for travelling in time and space.”

“Really?” Gwen looked curious. “How do you know that? Jack never told me about that.” Owen rolled his eyes as Gwen’s jealousy flared again.

“And I assume the reason both were transported was all the skin-on-skin contact.” Tosh blushed while saying ‘skin-on-skin’.

“Tosh, that’s all well and good, now we know what’s probably happened to ‘em, but how the hell do we know where or should I say, when, they’ve gone to and how do we get ‘em back!” Owen’s frustration boiled over and he was shouting by the end of his sentence.

“Owen, let Tosh do her work, don’t yell.” Gwen chastised the irate man. “She’ll figure out a way to get Jack back.” She ignored the murderous looks from both Tosh and Owen at her choice of words.

Accustomed to Owen’s outbursts, Tosh continued to tap away at her keyboard. “I’ll have to check the device to see what had been programmed into it. I believe from what I’ve read, Jack and Ianto should be ‘marked’ with the Seritian energy. That’s why they had the blue glow. It just needs to be reactivated to get them back.”

Gwen was staring at the screen, which was paused, showing Jack and Ianto glowing blue, just prior to them disappearing. “Wonder why they didn’t notice they were glowing blue?” She tried not to focus on the fact that they were lying almost half-naked in one another’s arms.

“Too busy?” Owen replied with an ear-to-ear grin. Tosh giggled while Gwen glared at him again.

“We only can see the blue glow when I’m running the footage through a filter, remember, Gwen? When we first watched it, we didn’t see it.” It took all the patience Tosh possessed to explain the obvious to Gwen.

“Oh, yeah.” Gwen was embarrassed.

“Gwen, stop staring, you’re beginning to drool.” Owen snapped at her. “Let’s go and get the Education device thingie for Tosh to look at.” He reached over Tosh’s head and turned the monitor off, effectively ending Gwen’s voyeurism. “Um, Tosh, will we need gloves?”

Tosh smiled at him. “No, you should be fine, unless you have a wrist strap.”

“You never know, my magnetic personality might set it off. Oi! Don’t you laugh, PC Cooper!”

“Owen, you don’t need me to come with you. I going to give my Rhys a call; it looks as if our early mark isn’t gonna happen, again.”

Owen rolled his eyes at Gwen, and Tosh giggled, thinking Ianto couldn’t have rolled his eyes any better at Gwen’s predictable behaviour. Funny how phoning Rhys was always such a convenient excuse whenever Gwen didn’t want to have to work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Jack, wait up!” Ianto was a pace behind him. “What’s wrong? Wait for me.”

Jack stopped and looked around him. “Ianto, how much do you know about the social history of the 50’s?”

“Well, post-war Britain, lots of changes and upheaval. Introduction of labour-saving devices, TV, radio when electricity became common in every household. National Service, Suez crisis, Korean War, end of rationing, Queen Elizabeth...”

“Yeah, that’s all the things that happened. But what about social history, how people reacted, what they believed, their mores, that sort of thing?”

“Jack, I’ve had a hard knock on my head, and it hurts. You tell me I’m in another time and now you’re talking in riddles and acting strange. I’m not afraid to admit you’re scaring me more than a little. I could really do with a quick hug.”

“Can’t do that. Hug you, that is. Not in public; we could be arrested.”

“For a hug?”

“Two males hugging, it’s illegal, Ianto; we could end up in gaol.”

“Was it really that bad? I didn’t realise.” Ianto reflected. “It’s not something they ever talked about in school.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not surprised. It was dark times for some people.”

“Jack, you’ve lived through this before; how did you cope? I know you; you love freely, not dependent on gender. It must have been really hard on you.” Ianto reached out to place a comforting hand on Jack’s arm and caught himself just in time.

“This is not a conversation for now, not in the street. We don’t have any contemporary money. I can get funds; that’s not a problem, since we’re still in the United Kingdom. Let’s keep walking; you go to the hospital and get your head stitched, and I’ll find a bank.”

“You’re not gonna rob the bank, are you, Jack?” Ianto’s stomach fluttered unpleasantly at the thought.

“No. Tempting, but no.” Jack managed a small grin. “I have money in several banks and a password to withdraw funds. When I was with the Time Agency, I came here, to Earth, a couple of times, well a bit earlier than this, actually. 1920’s in Germany was fun. Decided it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit of money around in case I came back. Then, when I lived through the war and on into this time, I decided to hedge my bets, and make sure I had funds for all times. I do love compound interest. I’ve never had large overheads; I usually lived on base.”

“Your wardrobe is very similar, so not too much spent on clothes, then.” Ianto smiled as he said that; he loved Jack’s mode of dress.

“Oi! I spend money on clothes I like. Just ‘cos they’re clothes I enjoy looking at, instead of wearing, like a certain cute suit, and that red shirt, for example!”

“And I enjoy wearing the clothes for you to look at; they’re all very appreciated, but doesn’t your current self, in this time, get curious about withdrawals you don’t make?”

“I leave myself a note in ‘Boeshane’. Only I would know that, and I write something that only I would understand. That way I’ll know it’s me that’s taken the pounds.”

They kept walking as they were talking. Up ahead Jack saw a hospital.

“Looks like we’re definitely in London; that’s the Royal Free Hospital. After they have seen to your head, just wait in the lobby; there will be seats. I’ll try and be as quick as possible, might even be there before you.” Jack leant towards Ianto to give him a quick kiss. It was something they had started doing the last few months when leaving one another, and they weren’t sure of what might happen. He pulled back abruptly, suddenly realising that giving his young lover a kiss at that moment wasn't a good idea. Instead, Jack turned sharply and stalked away, his coat flapping behind him.

Ianto watched him go, feeling very alone, and he sighed, “Okay, time to face 1950’s medicine. I never thought I’d say this, but God, I miss Owen.”

He walked into the Accident and Emergency department, and upon arrival at the counter, he was told to sit and wait. The nurse on reception didn’t seem concerned he was unable to produce identification. Just told him to sit and wait.

So he sat.

And waited.

And waited.

He soon became bored, cursing silently that he didn’t have anything to read. Ianto was also worried about Jack and wondered how he was faring. _‘You better not get lost Jack; I don’t want to get stuck here by myself.’_ he thought.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

As he walked down the street, Jack looked around him. He noted that the majority of the men were wearing hats. ‘ _I wonder how Ianto will look in a hat?_ ’ He found himself passing by the Laird of Glencairn hat shop; there was a Royal Warrant displayed proudly above the door. He paused to look at the various men’s hats on show in the front window and immediately decided, _‘hot, Ianto will look really hot wearing a hat.’_ Jack grinned to himself. _‘After all, he looks delectable in anything,_ ’ and his grin became decidedly lascivious. ‘ _Or nothing, his best look. We’ll have to get clothes.’_ His smile faded when he realised, _‘Damn, no tight jeans and t-shirts. Love that look on him.’_

Jack was so caught up in his thoughts that he was only half-looking where he was going. All of his mental planning of what they would need to do and buy was interrupted when, all of a sudden, a hand grabbed him and pulled him back. He spun around and found himself face-to-face with a Police Constable.

“Sir, you nearly stepped out in front of a bus. You must be more cautious at roads in a big city; we have lots of traffic.”

Jack smiled and said thank you; he managed to catch himself seconds before he would normally have begun flirting with the Bobbie. The man tipped his hat and continued along his patrol, leaving Jack behind. The immortal looked around, thinking back to just three weeks earlier, to the last time he had been in London. ‘ _If this is considered heavy traffic, I’d hate to see light traffic_.’ He looked around, and shook his head; there were four cars, a black taxi, a couple of buses and a horse-drawn dray, along with a few motorbikes. _‘Things have changed, just a bit.’_

Looking at the buildings around him, he saw a bank he knew. _‘Time for the Harkness charm._ ’ he thought.

Jack strode through the doors and joined the queue, such as it was. There was only one person in front of him, so he didn’t have to wait long.

“Next, please.”

It was Jack’s turn.

“Good morning, Sir.” The thin woman behind the counter peered through her spectacles. “How may I help you?”

“I’ve lost my wallet and I need to access some of my funds. I do have a tendency to do this, so I have put a password in place. Can you assist me, or will I need to speak to the manager in regards to this?

“I’ll just check, Sir. May I please have your name?”

“Captain Jack Harkness. I think I set up the account with the main London branch, up near Waterloo.”

“I will just check with the floor manager, Captain.” The clerk tidied a stack of papers and locked her cash drawer. “I won’t be long.”

The teller went to stand in front of the desk of a short, round man who was situated behind the row of tellers. Once she had been given permission to approach, she talked to him for a moment, and then they both came over to Jack.

“Captain Harkness, I hear you’ve lost your wallet. Miss Jeffery has said you have a password set up on your account. If you could just write it down, I will contact Waterloo branch and then we will be able to organise a new banking book for you.” The floor manager sounded bored; he wanted to sit back down and drink his tea before it got cold. _‘Bloody Americans; no respect for a man’s tea!’_

“Thank you.” Jack was finding it difficult not to flirt with Miss Jeffery, and out of habit, he started to lean on counter, but managed to stop himself in time. He needed to get back to Ianto as soon as possible; he didn’t want to piss off the Bank Manager and cause any delays.

A few minutes later and the manager was back with a bankbook in hand.

“I am so sorry that took so long, Captain.” The rotund man smiled beneath his moustache. “Do you wish to withdraw any money today?” The manager passed over the book, and when Jack nodded, he handed him a pen and a form to fill out. When Jack looked inside the bankbook to write down the account number, he realised why the bank manager had changed his demeanour so dramatically. The balance in the account was £1.6 million. _‘Well’_ , thought Jack, ‘ _Ianto and I won’t have to worry about the cash side of things at least’._

Jack quickly filled in the form and caused a bit of a flurry by wanting to withdrawal £1,000. But he got his way, with the bank manager kowtowing to him the whole time. Jack didn’t think he’d ever been offered so many cups of tea before in his life!

As he walked out of the bank and back towards the hospital, Jack thought about what they needed to do. He decided that food came first; followed by clothes shopping, and then somewhere to live. _‘Shit, there’s a housing shortage in this time!’_ he remembered. _‘Well, maybe a hotel for the night, and then we’ll see.’_

He arrived in the hospital’s waiting lounge just as Ianto was called in to see the doctor.

Now it was Jack’s turn to sit and wait, which he did restlessly, listening to his stomach rumbling. Half an hour after going in for care, Ianto appeared, with a bandage on his head and a bigger headache than he had before he went into the treatment room. Despite the pain caused by the man hammering away inside his skull, he broke into a delighted smile when he saw Jack waiting for him. He hurried over to sit down beside the older man, stopping just in time from hugging him. He settled instead for a handshake.

“Jack, everything go okay at the bank?”

“Yep, all set. Let’s go and get some food; don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“I could do with a coffee.” Ianto had a sneaking suspicion that caffeine deprivation was contributing to his headache.

“Not an everyday thing here; tea is still the most common drink.”

Ianto’s shoulders fell; how much worse could this day get? “I guess it will have to do.”

They entered the first cafe they saw and found themselves seated quickly in a side booth. The waitress handed them their menus and left, returning in a few minutes with a large pot of tea hidden under a floral chintz cosy.

After looking at the menu, the two men settled on bacon, eggs and tea. Jack glanced around the room. “It’s a good thing rationing has mostly finished; it would be much harder if we had to produce a ration book.”

As they waited for the food, Jack and Ianto talked over everything they needed to do.

“Can’t we just go to Torchwood and ask for assistance to get back?” It seemed logical to Ianto and was the first suggestion he made. He’d given their predicament a lot of thought while in the waiting room, and it was the best idea he could come up with. After all, if Torchwood wouldn’t help it’s own agents return home, then what good were they!

“No. Good idea, though,” Jack grimaced. “Unfortunately, during this time, I was constantly travelling back and forth between London and Cardiff. It’s too dangerous. I can’t risk running into myself; it will cause a big paradox and the reapers that destroy paradoxes are no fun.”

“So, contacting Torchwood is out.”

“‘Fraid so.” Jack was aching to take Ianto’s hand in his and offer him some comfort; the man looked so very young and lost at that moment.

‘What if we’re stuck here?’ Ianto forced himself not to panic. He was with Jack, and Jack would get them home. Ianto straightened his shoulders and set his face in its usual placid façade. “What do you think caused us to travel in time?”

“You said you smelt lemons, and I think I did as well, which gives me an idea of what it could be. Don’t get your hopes up yet, though.” He held up his hand in warning. “I want to scan you, and check a theory. I can do it with my wrist strap but to get the best reading, it needs to be done without clothes in the way, so it’ll have to wait ‘til we can be alone.”

“Are you sure that it not just a way to get me naked?” Ianto quirked an eyebrow in a way he knew drove Jack crazy.

“I’ve never had a problem...” _‘Damn! He’s doing that eyebrow thing!_ ’ “…With getting you naked, Mr Jo... Oh good, here’s our breakfast now.” Jack looked at the waitress, concerned she may have overheard what they had been saying.

The waitress, her face blank, placed the meals and a rack of toast on the table and walked away.

Relieved, Jack attacked his food with gusto, shovelling in a large bite of eggs and toast. “Ianto, we have to be careful; we can’t flirt, there’s no innuendo, no touching, or anything like that in public. We don’t want to be reported to the police.” He spoke quietly around his mouthful of half-chewed food.

“That really happened?” Ianto stopped with his fork in the air. “People turned each other in?”

“Yes, they did, and quite often.” Jack shook his head sadly. “Once the police had your name, your life was never the same. You could lose your job, your home, your friends; it was like open season on anyone suspected of being homosexual.” He got a distant look in his eye. “Going out at night was the worst. Between the police and the hooligans, men were constantly being beaten up or worse.” He shook himself and tried to smile reassuringly at Ianto.

Ianto suppressed a shudder and forced himself to drink his tea. Now he wasn’t just worried about getting back home, he was scared of surviving long enough to return. “Okay, we’ll both try and behave, though I don’t think it’s going to be easy... for you, Captain Innuendo!” He tried to inject a little humour into the moment and was rewarded when Jack smiled at him. “First food, then somewhere to stay.”

“Yep, then clothes, because Mr Jones, you do stand out a bit. At least you’re wearing a white shirt today. The pink that I like so much, or the purple one, would have been unheard of, and the cut of your suit, it’s all wrong for this time.”

“And yet your clothes fit in perfectly.” Ianto remarked sardonically.

Jack looked surprised at the tone. “Yes, they do.” He looked down at himself. “Classics never go out of style, Ianto,” he explained earnestly.

Rolling his eyes, Ianto looked back down at his plate. He’d lost his appetite. “Typical.”

Jack grabbed a third piece of toast and mopped the egg yolk from his plate, washing his last bite down with a huge gulp of milky tea. “Eat, Ianto, it’s gonna be a long day.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Owen touched his comms. “Tosh, I can’t find the device you want; din’t you say stack 12-b-5.1?”

“No, Owen, it was 12-b-1.5; it should be about four rows back. From the description, the batteries should look like large marbles, in either red, green or purple.”

“’Kay, I’ll keep looking. Don’t known how Tea-Boy finds stuff down here; there’s no rhyme or reason to how this crap is sorted,” Owen groused.

“Don’t let Ianto hear you say that!” Tosh admonished him with a chuckle. “You just don’t have a logical mind; it’s all very straight forward.”

Owen bristled at the implication that the Tea-Boy was more logically inclined than him. “Yes, I do too have a logical mind Tosh. I’m a scientist, well a doctor, and medicine is a scientific field.”

“It may be a scientific field, but it’s not the most logical of the sciences. You deal with smells and how things feel and look. I would suggest doctoring is more of an art than a science.” Tosh couldn’t keep the smile from her voice; she did enjoy bantering with the Torchwood medic, and sometimes, he just made it so easy to rile him up.

“Yeah, well, I’ll get myself a beret and tell you all your bruises are a beautiful blue like the sky at night and your blood makes patterns… Oi, would these marbles be marble-size or larger?”

“Define marble-size. There are marbles that are small and some rocks are referred to as marbles.” The computer tech mused thoughtfully. “I’ve seen pictures of ‘The Devil’s Marbles’ and they are a few metres around.”

“Smartie pants; you’re no help; could they be the size of a basketball?”

“The size isn’t listed. The original info slip was not filled in by Ianto. It’s just gives the location and the colours. There is an addendum by Ianto, though; it says, ‘caution – 2-person-lift‘, if that’s any help.”

“Well, these are on the shelf you said, but why would you need two people to lift? They’re only the size of a basket... Oh! Ahh, shit!”

Owen was in a section of the Archives that didn’t have CCTV installed yet, and all Tosh could hear was Owen grunting and cursing through their comm link. “What! Owen, are you okay?”

“Yeah; they really are a two-person lift, or more likely a four-person lift; they’re bloody heavy!” Unseen by Tosh, Owen was bent over, hands on knees, stretching the pull out of his back. _‘How did they ever get this things down here in the first place?’_ he wondered.

“Do you want me to come down or send Gwen down to help you?”

Owen rolled his eyes ‘Ianto-style’. “If I can’t lift these things, you certainly can’t.” He wandered out into the main passageway and looked around. “I’ve found a trolley; I’ll see if I can just roll the battery onto it.”

“Be careful, Owen! It would be very difficult to explain what happened. ‘Oh Doctor, I’ve hurt my back. What was I doing? Well, you see I was attempting to lift a basketball-sized alien battery that weighed the same as an elephant.’ You would end up in Providence Park.”

“Oh shit! Um… Tosh? Are the internal contents harmful?”

“It says here ‘no known toxins’; it seems they cut one open at T1, to experiment on, but...” Tosh scrolled quickly through the information on her screen.

“It disintegrated into a fine sparkly powder?”

“Yes, how did you know?” Not sure she wanted to hear the answer, Tosh asked the question anyway.

“They break when dropped. I’m now covered in a very fine glitter. Looks like I’m ready to go the Mardi Gras. Oh, shit, it doesn’t wipe off... hopefully it will wash off in the shower. Can you send PC Cooper down if she’s off her mobile, and we will try lifting it together?”

“Gwen?” Tosh tapped her comm link.

“Yes, Tosh?”

“Can you go downstairs and help Owen? He’s finding lifting a basketball difficult.” Owen could hear the Japanese woman giggle quietly.

“Tosh, I can hear you; the comms is still on. Gwen, it’s not like it sounds, it’s a very heavy basketball.” The medic’s tone was petulant.

“Okay, my poor, weak Owen; big, strong Gwen will come to your rescue. I’m about two minutes away, just arriving at the Tourist Office door.”

“Just shut up, and get yourself down here.” Still brushing ineffectually at the glitter on his clothes, Owen hoisted himself onto the trolley to wait. When a woman said two minutes, in his experience, it would more likely be at least five.

“Gwen.”

“Yes, Tosh.” Gwen opened the front door to the Tourist Information Centre and carefully locked it behind her before reaching over Ianto’s counter and pushing the button to activate the hidden doorway.

“Take two masks down with you. Owen broke one of the batteries and it has released a fine powder. It’s not toxic, but all fine powders can do damage to your lungs.”

“Okay, will do.”

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

“Stop laughing, PC Cooper!” Owen snarked the moment he saw Gwen’s grinning face, and he grabbed one of the protective masks from his team-mate. “Thanks for the mask.”

“Was Tosh’s idea, fine particles and all… You look ready to grant wishes.” Gwen couldn’t wipe the broad grin off her face as she looked Owen up and down. He actually looked kind of good; the overhead lighting made him look all sparkly.

Confused, Owen asked, “Grant wishes?”

“Covered in Fairy Dust? All sparkly, like a fairy.” If possible, Gwen’s gap-toothed grin grew even bigger. “You just need some wings.”

Toshiko’s giggle was instant and loud, and Owen flushed, which made him even more irritable. “Just shut up, both of you!” All he could think was, ‘ _Oh, God, please don’t let Ianto find out about this!_ ’ “Help me with this. Be careful, it’s very heavy and fragile if dropped.”

“Shite, that is heavy!” Gwen grunted in a most unladylike fashion.

“Don’t drop it; I’m covered in enough sparkles.”

“Suits you, good God – careful.” She could feel a trickle of sweat roll down behind her mask.

“Bend your knees, don’t use your back.” The medic instructed. “Now, place it on the trolley, just a little bit more… oh, whooo, that was heavy! You okay?” Owen glanced up at Gwen; even though the second battery had been moved successfully, she had gotten some glitter on her from the first one.

“Think I need a cuppa and a lie down. Rhys better give me a back rub; that was bloody heavy.”

“Let’s get it up to Tosh, and then I want to wash this stuff off me.”

“But it looks so good on you!” Gwen couldn’t resist grinning again.

‘Right back atcha, Cooper.” Owen gestured at Gwen. “You’d better get cleaned up and changed as well. Even if it does say ‘non-toxic’ in the notes, I don’t fancy whatever this is getting out of the Hub.”

Startled, Gwen looked down at herself. “Doesn’t this stuff wipe off?” Gwen twisted this way and that, looking herself over. “I’ve got a fair bit on me, well, mainly on my hands. Oh, it _is_ hard to get off, isn’t it?”

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

“Hey, Tosh.” Gwen walked over her desk and plopped down in the chair. She was fresh from her shower, and started running her fingers through her hair, fluffing it to help it dry faster.

“Yes, Gwen?” Tosh looked around. “Where’s Owen?”

“He’s in the shower. Did you get some CCTV of him covered in the sparkly dust?”

Stirred from her thoughts of wet, naked Owen, Tosh focused on her keyboard, pulling up the requested video. “Oh yeah! I thought Ianto would enjoy seeing what Owen got up to in his Archives.”

Gwen smiled fondly. “Yeah, he would have… will! Can you print me a copy too? It’s a good look for him.” She had a sudden thought. “I think I’ll help Owen with his Christmas cards this year! What would you think of ‘Owen, the Christmas Elf’?”

Tosh stared at her for a split second, and then both women burst into gales of laughter.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

More than an hour had passed before Owen emerged onto the main floor of the Hub. Tosh and Gwen both glanced at him and then did a double-take. “Owen, I thought you were going to have a shower and wash the glitter off?”

“I did.”

“Oh... So… it didn’t come off then?”

“No, it didn’t!” the man snarled and pointed at Gwen. “And PC Cooper, you can bloody well stop laughing.”

“I’m not laughing at you... Oh, who am I kidding! Yes, I am; you just look so funny.” Gwen couldn’t help herself; Owen looked so indignant, albeit sparkly as he stood there, hands on hips, glaring at them.

“Tosh - TOSH!” Owen was forced to yell to be heard over the hoots of laughter echoing through the Hub.

It took several seconds before Tosh could stop laughing long enough to answer him. “Yes, Owen?”

“Have you any idea how to get this stuff off me?”

“A shower?” she offered helpfully.

Owen looked at her like she’d lost her mind. _‘Where does she think I’ve been for the last hour?_ ’ “It didn’t work! I’m still covered in this stuff.”

“Ooh, you poor baby.” Tosh cooed at him. “I don’t have time to play with you right now; I’m trying to work out how to get Jack and Ianto back.”

“Don’t you poor baby me!” Owen nearly stamped his foot with frustration. “I was gonna go out on the pull tonight, but I’m sparkling like a bloody Christmas tree fairy!” Inwardly he cringed at the pathetic whine in his voice. “How am I gonna get a girl to go home with me lookin’ like this?”

“Perhaps you should try pulling a guy?” Bending her head, Tosh let her hair fall forward, hiding her grin.

“Very funny. Ha ha.”

“Heee heee.” Tosh’s words sent Gwen off on another wave of laughter, and she nearly fell off her chair.

“Cooper, stop laughing! Both of you!” This time, Owen really did stamp his foot. “This is not FUNNY!”

Gwen wiped the tears from her eyes and clutched at her belly; she’d laughed until the muscles hurt. “Oh, yeah, it is, isn’t it Tosh?”

“Yep. Very amusing.” Tosh looked up and smiled broadly at Owen, who looked helplessly back and forth between his team-mates before spinning around and stomping as loudly as possible into the medical bay, his voice echoing in the rafters.

“SHIT!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Jack looked at his companion as he put down his cup of tea. “So, what first, clothes or a place to stay?”

Ianto looked down at what he was wearing. The suit jacket had a tear in the sleeve, his shirt had bloodstains on the back of the collar, and his trousers were covered in brick dust and mud. “Clothes, I think. I look a mess.” Even though he’d used the café’s washroom to clean his hands and face, he still felt nasty and grimy.

The older man glanced around; no one was near them. He leaned in and whispered, “You always look good to me, in clothes or out of them. Suits, jeans, doesn’t matter. You’re just beautiful.” Ianto started to blush not only at Jack’s words, but also at the look in his eyes. “But I know you will be happier in clean clothes.”

“I only like my clothes this messy when you’re the cause, because then I don’t care; I enjoy getting messy with you.” His body automatically responding to Jack’s flirting, Ianto’s voice became deeper and his accent thicker.

Jack’s eyes glazed over; Ianto’s Welsh accent was a dangerous aphrodisiac as far as he was concerned. Shaking naughty thoughts out of his head, Jack grinned and sighed. “We definitely need to find a place to stay that’s private and safe.”

“To say nothing of sound-proof!” Ianto couldn’t resist adding to the list. “Lots of hot water, too.”

Jack quickly drained his tea and grabbed the last bit of toast off of Ianto’s plate, then the men got up from the table, and went over to the counter to pay for their meal. After asking directions, they set off to the ‘Men’s Quality Outfitters’.

As they walked along, Jack made a list of the clothes he wanted to get for his partner. “We’ll have to get you at least a couple of off-the-peg suits, underwear, shirts, shoes, the works. Though if Jaques is up to his normal standard, they won’t look off-the-peg.”

Ianto turned and looked at his captain; the man strode along the sidewalk like he owned the street. “What about you? You’ll need clothes too!”

Jack merely smiled. “I just need to go to Kings Cross Railway Station. I’ve some luggage there.” It was plain to see how pleased he was with himself.

“Really?” Raising one eyebrow, Ianto queried, “Do you always leave clothing, and I assume, other items around in case you get lost in time?”

“Lost in time, very clever, Mr Jones!” Jack chuckled. “But no, just from the late forties through the mid-sixties. I was doing a lot of work for Torchwood that had me travelling back and forth between London and Cardiff. By leaving clothes down in London, I always had spare clothes, and I didn’t have to worry about packing if I needed to come down here in a hurry.”

“So, you know London in this time?” Ianto had been trying not to stare at everything as they walked along, but the differences were all over the scale. There were simple things, like the red telephone booths scattered here and there. Both Jack and Ianto did a double take when they saw a Police Box, but it was just an ordinary Police Box, not the TARDIS. There were also huge things, like bicycles and horse-drawn carts rather than exhaust-spewing motorcars.

Jack frowned. “Relatively, but not nearly as well as I know, knew, Cardiff.”

Knowing that Jack would take care of him, Ianto was satisfied with the answer. “Well, let’s get the clothes organised and then find a place to stay. How do we get there?”

“Bus. Taxi would be easier, but we’ll be less conspicuous, especially how you’re dressed at the moment, on a bus. Jaques’ is just near the station.” Without thinking, Jack reached out to take Ianto’s hand, remembering not to at the last second; instead, he pretended to trip over the sidewalk.

He hadn’t fooled Ianto, however, who just gave him a sad little smile. “Let’s go and find that bus.”

The trip down to Kings Cross was relatively uneventful. Jack had passed some of the money to Ianto to carry, so he was able to pay for his own fare. Jack was afraid if he handled the money for them both it would look too strange, two men travelling together but only one paying. The immortal had no problem and was able to easily pass the coins to the driver, but Ianto fumbled with the unusual currency. He could feel a blush creeping up the back of his neck even though the driver waited patiently; he really didn’t like feeling incompetent.

The two men got off the bus about half a block from the shop. As they walked, Ianto quizzed Jack on the currency and how it worked. Having only known decimal currency, he was finding the old system of pounds, shillings and pence unwieldy and confusing.

“Ianto, don’t worry, we’ll work it out. The money may not be decimal, but most things are clearly marked and if you’re not sure, just thicken your accent and play on being a Welsh country bumpkin.”

“Jack!” Ianto exclaimed indignantly. “No. There is no way a Welshman would make out he is thick, especially with the English, not in our time and not now. And bumpkin, Jack? You have got to be kidding.”

Tickled by how riled up Ianto was, Jack smiled at him. “Got your mind off not knowing the currency, didn’t it, and anyway, we won’t be too far away from each other and I’ll look out for you.” _‘I’ll always look out for you, Ianto.’_

Ianto rolled his eyes, stopping when he realised his head was still a bit sore. Instead he smiled his thanks.

“Hey, Ianto, we’ll always look after each other. Now, we’re here, let’s go and say hello to Jaques. Yan, you can be yourself here, as long as no one else is in the shop.” Jack gave his young lover one of his patented brilliant smiles that made his eyes twinkle and made Ianto’s stomach grow all tingly.

With a quirk of his eyebrow, Ianto had a quick look around, didn’t see anyone who would hear what he said and asked, “Is the shopkeeper gay?”

“No, alien. He looks and acts humanoid and enjoys this sort of work, so I set him up here. He looks after himself and does a roaring trade with ‘men who prefer men’, which is how Jaques puts it. Word got around that he is fine with it, and his business is booming.” Jack winked and touched the side of his nose with his forefinger. “He’s the soul of discretion.”

Smiling, Ianto guessed, “No doubt it was you who whispered that piece of information in a well-placed ear or two?”

“Yeah, I might have.” He shrugged. “Jaques is happily making suits and dresses for who every wants them, no questions asked. It’s a win-win situation for all involved.” Now it was Jack who took a quick look around before lowering his voice. “Rumour has it there’s even a member of the Royal Family who has been known to favour Jaques with his custom.”

“Speaking of involved,” Ianto stopped and looked at his captain, as they stood outside the door to the shop. “Do I need to be jealous? No, I shouldn’t say that. You knew him in the 50’s; you didn’t know me then. I wasn’t, no, haven’t even been born yet.

“It’s okay, Yan.” Jack wanted to hold him, but they were on the street, in full public view. They looked inside and noticed there was a couple inside. “Let’s go in; we can talk when the other customers have gone, while Jaques is measuring you up.”

As they entered the shop, Jaques looked up, and upon seeing Jack, gave him a big smile. Then he looked again and frowned.

“Sirs, I’ll be with you in one moment.” The shopkeeper nodded in their direction, his face a bland mask.

He helped the first man on with his coat, informed them the suit would be ready to pick up in three days, and ushered them quickly out of the shop. After pulling the door shut, he turned the ‘closed’ sign around and turned the locks.

“You’re Jack, but you’re not my Jack, are you?” Jaques looked worriedly from man to man. “I’ve done nothing wrong, I swear.”

“Calm down Jaques, it’s okay. I’m still your Jack, just from 2009, not from now.”

The tailor sat down suddenly. “Thank the Goddess! I was worried you were going to take me away from here; I am quite enjoying the work and this little city is beautiful. Even the fogs are great. They remind me of home, especially the really thick ones. I didn’t want to be sent back to those cells.”

“Never, Jaques. Never.” Jack frowned at the thought of those cells. “There is no way I would take someone back there. Now, old friend, Ianto and I have been displaced in time, and, as you can see, Ianto needs new clothes.”

As he reached for his tape, Jaques eyed Ianto up and down. “Hmmm, yes, the clothes are all wrong for this time. The cut is all wrong; it’s too fitted around the arse, though you like that, don’t you, Captain?” The alien spoke without malice; he and Jack had been friends for a long time, and there were no secrets between them. Well, not many, anyway.

Jack nodded and smiled fondly at Ianto. Struck by the look in Jack’s eye, Ianto blushed and dipped his head, looking shyly through his lashes at the older man.

“The colour, too soft. No turn ups, and that tie.” Jaques tutted; “if you’re not careful that tie alone could get you thrown into Gaol.”

Confused, Jack and Ianto looked at the tie. “I would have thought it was okay.” Jack peered at it again closely, holding it up to the light to get a better look at it. “It seems fairly staid, one of Yan’s quieter ties.”

“Perhaps for your time it is, but if you look, it is striped with a very fine, purple, almost pink, stripe.” Jaques raised an eyebrow, surprised the other two men hadn’t noticed.

Both men stared at the tie in question. Finally Ianto spoke. “So it does, I never noticed it before. You can hardly see it though. It’s only about the width of one thread.”

“That’s all it can take for someone to become suspicious of you. Have them follow you, report you to the police, have them find out about you.” The tailor looked up at the two men. “I love this place, but in some ways I can’t understand the thinking. One of my customers, a good friend, was just found out. He called the Police as his flat had been broken into. His partner happened to be there; the Police became suspicious of them, and arrested them for ‘gross indecency’. He’s been incarcerated, Jack, for no reason!” Tears glistened in the alien’s eyes. “This is so barbaric, being arrested for who you have in your bed. How can that possibly hurt anyone?”

“Jaques,” Jack pulled him into the back room, away from anyone who might look through the shop windows. Ianto followed, feeling a frisson of fear stab through his belly. _‘What have we gotten ourselves into?_ ’ he fretted. _‘What if I do something or say something that gets Jack thrown into jail?’_

“It gets better, you’ll see, Jaques, and you will be around to see it, believe me. Now, Ianto,” Jack turned to the younger man. “If Jaques hasn’t moved it, behind that curtain there is a kitchen. Can you please make us all a coffee?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Ianto nodded, glad to have something to occupy his mind, and pulled the curtain back. He gasped loudly, surprised by what he saw, and then he heard Jack chuckle behind his back. Obviously, the immortal had been watching and waiting for his reaction. Excited by what lay before him, Ianto rushed over to the counter, where an imported Italian coffee machine, fully kitted out, gleamed in the light. He gently and lovingly ran his hand over the machine, feeling homesick for his own machine and his own time.

Shaking off the sudden melancholy, Ianto set to work. He found the bag of beans and after an approving nod at the blend, started to organise himself to make the coffee. It was a task he did often and the regular, well-known movements calmed him. “Well,” he said to himself, “if I can’t get a hug, at least I can get a decent cup of coffee.” He smelt the beans, inhaling deeply.

“Perfect,” he whispered, taking another deep breath, enjoying the aroma. The grinder was sitting next to the machine; it was a hand-crank model, just like the one he remembered his grandmother having, for flour. He poured the beans into the hopper and as he turned the handle, he recalled standing on tiptoe at his Nan’s side, ‘helping’ her grind the grains, while listening with one ear to what Jack and Jaques were talking about.

“He is very pretty, Jack; where did you find him?” Jaques looked hard at Jack and then sniffed the air. “You’re not usually in this time, are you? You are different from the Jack I usually deal with.” Jaques stepped back, head tilted to one side as he contemplated the man before him. “You look very similar, except for your eyes. Your eyes are more haunted. Anything wrong?”

“Can’t put anything over you, can I, old friend?” Jack leaned against the workbench and looked at his long-time friend. “I am Jack, but not the Jack in this time line. As I said before, Ianto and I are from 2009. We were transported back here by, we think, some alien tech. We’re gonna try and get home. I believe, well I hope, no I know, my team back home in our time, are working on a way to get us back.”

Jaques looked out towards the front of his shop. He went out and pulled down the blinds for the shop windows. “I usually don’t pull the blinds; I like customers to see the wares.” He frowned as he walked back to Jack. “Some of my neighbours are getting curious about the men coming and going, but I’m a tailor and that is to be expected.” He smiled beguilingly.

“I like a nice arse, as well you know, and the cover of a tailor’s shop works well for me, but I’m afraid some people are getting curious as unfortunately, some of my customers are not very discrete.” Jaques shook his head sadly. “I am worried about these times, old friend. You say it will get better, but if you are able to go forward, to return to your own time, would you be able to take me as well, to the future? Your other self is always telling me to just be patient, that society loosens up and becomes more accepting, but I don’t know if I’ll remain safe enough to see it happen.”

Jack smiled at him, but it was a sad smile that didn't reach his eyes. “I don’t think we would be able to, Jaques. I would if we could, you know that, but I think it was a Seritian Education Expander. Ianto said he smelt lemons. I’m gonna do some scans, but I pretty sure that’s what it was. We had a similar sort of device that recently came through the Rift. It was either an earlier or later model than what I’ve seen before, but it seemed to be out of power when my tech examined it.

“I think my wrist strap,” Jack tapped his vortex manipulator, “activated it and as Ianto and I were enjoying some skin-to-skin contact at the time, it sent both of us back. Before you say anything, the Expander should have covered us in a field that will re-call us back to the same place, either at a certain time or when my team re-activates the device.” He held up his hand as Jaques opened his mouth to speak.

“All the travel functions, time and otherwise, have been de-activated on my wrist strap, so it had to have been a combination of the device and my strap that transported us. I don’t have the device; it’s back in 2009. I’m sorry, Jaques, but I can’t transport you as well.” Jack’s heart was heavy with regret. He fully understood the fear his friend was living with, never knowing who was a friend, or who might be a police informant.

Crushed by the knowledge that he wasn’t going where he would be safe, Jaques slumped against the table. After a moment, he took a deep breath, and then stood up straight. “Well, I would hate to leave my customers in the lurch, and between you and me, there is that rather delightful Eddie I’ve been playing with. I would certainly miss our games together.” He did his best to make Jack feel better about the situation.

Both men turned to face Ianto as he came back into the room, cups of coffee on a tray. Jack held his in both hands, waiting expectantly while Jaques took his first sip of the steaming brew.

“Mon Dieu! This is…” the alien took a second, bigger drink. “I am speechless with delight!” He licked his lips and smacked them appreciatively. “I do believe my tongue is experiencing an orgasm inside of my mouth!”

Jack laughed loudly and Ianto blushed at the tailor’s words. Well-pleased with the response to his lover’s coffee, Jack finally began to drink his. They sat and chatted about what Ianto would need to be suitably attired.

“Well,” the tailor mused, “I have two suits, a pair of flannels and a sports jacket that were due to be picked up late next week, but the customer is away and just contacted me yesterday to say he may be another week at least. He is about the same build as Ianto, possibly an inch taller, so all that is needed is to take up the trouser legs.” He looked at Ianto, scrutinising his build. ”I don’t think I would have to change anything else, it should be an adequate fit.”

“That would be wonderful, if it’s not putting you out too much.” Ianto replied gratefully.

“Anything for you, Ianto.” Jaques looked at the Captain, then back at Ianto, with a smile on his face. “You have made the Captain very happy. He smiles with his eyes whenever he looks at you. Not like my Captain; he smiles but it never reaches his eyes.”

Jack looked at Ianto and smiled, giving Jaques another glimpse of the depth of feeling Jack had for Ianto.

As he smiled back at Jack, Ianto thought, _‘maybe I am enough for him; I know he is for me._ ’

They sipped their coffees and chatted about what was happening in the world, the up-coming coronation, and the tensions in the Suez. That reminded Jaques of something very important.

“Ianto needs to be careful, Jack; he may be questioned about National Service. He is of the right age. If you have to stay here for any length of time, it is something you’re going to have to think about. You don’t want him sent to the Suez or Korea.”

“We’ll be careful;” inwardly Jack grimaced. National Service hadn’t occurred to him. “There is no way I’m letting my Ianto go anywhere in this time without me.” Jack looked at his young lover. ‘ _Nothing is more important to me than protecting him; I can’t let him get hurt.’_

“Don’t worry about me, Jack. I’m strong and have a thick head, well, at least Owen says so, and so did that doctor today. Let’s worry about getting us home, and less on protecting someone who really is quite able of looking after himself.” Ianto said this while collecting the empty mugs and then went out into the kitchen to wash them.

Jack grinned but Jaques could still see that he was worried. “He is so independent.” Jack clapped his hands and looked around the back room. “Now if I remember rightly, I used to come and see you four times a year. When was I last here? I really don’t wish to run into myself.”

“I saw you about two months ago, so I would expect to see you in roughly two to four weeks.” Jaques replied. His date book was all in his head, and he’d never forgotten an appointment, a customer, or an order. “When you came in today, I thought it was the you from this time, come early; so, please, be careful.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, we will. Reapers are a very nasty business,” the captain replied as Ianto returned to the room.

“Okay, gorgeous, it’s time for you to model some clothes.” Jack’s eyes lit up at the prospect of watching Ianto change, but one look from the young Welshman left Jack pouting and Jaques chuckling. Grumbling under his breath about ‘no fun’ and ‘wasn’t gonna touch… much’, Jack plunked himself down in a chair and waited impatiently.

Over the course of the next hour, the younger man dressed in the suits, the trousers and the tweed jacket. He modelled them for his Captain, doing an impression of a runway model, complete with pout, mince and flick as he turned.

Both Jack and Jaques had a good laugh at Ianto’s spot-on performance. Then, as he stood on a riser, Jaques measured arm lengths and in-seams, which, luckily, was the only thing that had to be altered.

Satisfied, Jaques gathered up the three pairs of trousers and went to his worktable. “Jack, there is a Debenham’s about three blocks down, away from the station. Why don’t you go and purchase socks, underwear, pyjamas, shirts, and a suitcase to put them in. Ianto can wait here, while I alter his suits.” He already had the hem torn out of one trouser leg.

“Ianto is looking a bit scruffy to go shopping, and his suit really makes him stand out as not from this time. He might get away with what he is wearing at most places, but at Debenham’s, the staff would know the suit is wrong and they may ask questions.” Jaques looked up at Jack and nodded, saying without words that he would make sure Ianto was kept safe.

Jack smiled wickedly; “we could always say it’s a Welsh suit, Ianto’s accent would back that up.’’ He glanced up as Ianto returned from the dressing room and glared at him. “No? Okay, I don’t like leaving you, Yan, but here is as about as safe as I think you could be. After I get your clothes, I’ll go get mine. Then, with our suitcases in hand, we should be able to get a hotel for a few days. We can look at a more permanent place if we are still here.” Jack stroked Ianto’s arm affectionately as he spoke.

The younger man looked at Jack; “I know you’re worried, but I am a big boy.”

Jack smirked broadly. “Tape measures never lie.”

“Jack - on task,” Ianto tsked with a grin. “But seriously, you don’t have to molly-coddle me. I can look after myself.”

“I know you can, but I still worry. You are very important to me.” Jack pulled Ianto into his arms, relishing the feeling of holding his lover again. “I’ve missed being able to hug you; it’s so hard all morning...”

It was Ianto turn to smirk, and after a quick glance down, he lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well, if holding you close makes me hard...” Jack into his mouth up to his partner’s ear, and Ianto shivered from the combined effects of Jack’s hot breath on his skin and the words he was whispering. “Just imagine what’s gonna happen when you go…”

Jaques coughed discretely; his alien hearing allowed him to easily hear what Jack was saying. “You two better be careful you don’t forget when you are and act like that in public. You will be thrown in gaol. I would even suggest different floors at the hotel.” He looked at the two men and sighed. “That’s not gonna stop you, is it? Jack, just make sure the bed in the other room looks like it has been slept in, and mess the room up properly. I don’t want to read about you two being arrested for ‘gross indecency’. Now, go get some more clothes for Ianto; when he is suitably attired you can go get shoes and a hat for him. He’ll need an overcoat, too.” There was something else Ianto needed, but he couldn’t think of what it was. “Oh, and for Goddess’ sake, get him a different tie! A straight one!”

Jack saluted Jaques, kissed Ianto soundly, and swept out of the back room into the shop, yelling, “I’ll turn the sign around and lift the blinds as I go.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Once Jack was gone, the silence in the shop was quite noticeable. Ianto looked around uncertainly. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“No, just sit, relax. Talk to me. Why don’t you tell me about your Jack.”

Ianto smiled, not realising that Jaques could see the love shining forth like a beacon from his blue eyes; Jack was his favourite topic.

“Would you like me to make another coffee, while you finish the alterations?” Ianto stood up, feeling restless, needing to do something. He was also feeling miffed at being left behind, left in the care of an out-of-place alien.

“That would be very nice, Ianto; I’ll start on the suit trousers while you do that.” Jaques picked up the trousers and sat in the chair, turning on the desk lamp and getting out the needles and matching threads.

Silently, each man went about with his tasks, waiting for Jack to return.

When Ianto returned with the coffee and some biscuits, he found the tailor just finishing the first pair of trousers. “I’ll be able to organise for you three suits, and two pairs of casual pants. You’ll see, after wearing the suits I made, the difference between them and your current suit.” Jaques talked while sewing and Ianto sat, listening, trying to keep his mind off Jack, and the trouble he could land in. The tailor, realising that his young charge hadn’t responded to his last question, looked over at Ianto; his worry was showing plainly on his face, and he was twisting his fingers together.

Jaques smiled to himself; _‘he must really love Jack, to be this worried about the immortal._ ’ The tailor started to talk again in an effort to distract Ianto. “As you saw when you did the fitting, Ianto, the fit across your behind will be different, and there is a difference to the cut of the trouser leg. It has a fuller width, with deep front pleats, and a turned-up cuff; I don’t like turn-ups myself.” He looked at the young man, who was seated at the cutting table, nervously chewing his bottom lip. “He’ll be fine, Ianto. You know nothing can hurt him, don’t you?”

Ianto nodded, and turned slightly towards the alien, “I just worry about him, Jaques. I know he can’t stay dead, but he does die and it hurts when he’s killed and when he comes back. I hate it when he has to come back and he’s by himself,” he confessed. “I always like to be there, to hold him, so he’s not alone.”

Jaques nodded in return, thinking, _‘I would expect nothing less from a love like yours for the Captain’_. Threading a new needle, he picked up the next trouser leg and began stitching while continuing with his discussion on fashion. “During the war they banned turn-ups, saying it was a waste of materials that could go towards the war effort. It certainly made me very happy, but now they’re back in style.” He shook his head, noting that Ianto was beginning to listen to him, and seemed to be enjoying the discussion.

Ianto happily let the little alien tailor talk; it was taking his mind off the situation, and it was interesting. He had always enjoyed history, and here he was, actually living through the recent past.

Ianto thought about how different he was going to look in the new suits, given their different tailoring. He looked down at the suit he was wearing; it was one of his favourites, not just because it looked the best on him, but also because it was one Jack had bought him. He smiled as he thought back to the day they purchased it. Jack really enjoyed watching him parade in the different suits. He remembered Jack saying he liked seeing this side of Ianto, outside of work, as he was cheeky and put on a show for him. Ianto had quirked one eyebrow and told him it was just the warm-up, and the proper show was for later.

The Welshman gave a small snort as he remembered Jack following him back into the changing rooms, saying he wanted to ‘help’ him. Even now, Ianto could feel a blush start to colour his cheeks as he recalled how the assistant had been forced to cough, quite loudly and several times, to get their attention after they had become quite... distracted. Ianto thought about all the suits that Jack had bought for him. He remembered the arguments they had had; Ianto didn’t like feeling as if he was being bought. Jack had countered by saying that he just loved buying things for him, and loved seeing him in expensive suits.

They finally ended up agreeing that since the suits were just as much for Jack’s enjoyment as Ianto’s, Jack would limit himself to replacing ones destroyed at work, and Ianto would accept the suits gracefully. Jack really did have excellent taste in men’s wear, despite the complete lack of style in his own clothes, and there was even one Jack had christened the ‘cute suit’. It almost hadn’t survived its first wearing after Jack had nearly ripped it from his body the moment they were alone when he was wearing it.

“Ianto!” Jaques tapped the worktable. “You okay? You look like your mind is miles away. Your head’s okay, not hurting?” He pointed to the bandage on Ianto’s head.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just remembering a previous time Jack and I went suit shopping. We had lots of fun, as you can imagine, knowing Jack. He followed me… we… umm…” Ianto could feel himself starting to blush again. “We had fun, lots of fun. Not what you would call ‘work safe’ or 1950’s safe fun, either.” He shook his head. “How do you cope in such a very restrictive time?”

“It wasn’t too bad for a while. During the war, people took love and pleasure when they could, afraid of not living before they died. Same-sex relations were still frowned on, but there was no active persecution, not like there is now. People tended to look the other way, if they did notice. But today, it’s a completely different story.

“We have spent so many years under governmental control over all the major aspects of our lives, Ianto. Because of the war, we were told where we had to work – the men went into the war, the women into the war effort. Even the children were given jobs and responsibilities around the home, to make up for having both parents in the workforce.”

Ianto was a rapt audience. He could remember his grandmother talking about rationing once, when he’d been visiting their farm. He could still picture her showing him her ration book, discoloured with age, but still a valuable link to the past.

“With all the rationing, we were told what to eat, what to wear, who could drive. Everything absolutely not necessary for our survival was put into the war effort or given to the soldiers. Families were broken up, the husbands shipped off to the front; the wives entered the workforce or took over the men’s work on the farms; and the children were shipped off to Scotland and Canada for safety.

“Today, the people are trying to regain control over their lives and naturally, the governments are afraid. They got too comfortable having such power over the masses. Now there’s communism in Russia and other areas; let’s face it, fear is a good way of controlling the populous. Fear is a ruse that’s been used successfully for generations, and it’ll continue to be used over and over again through the coming years.”

Jaques took a moment from his speech to bite the thread from the hem of the leg of Ianto’s trousers; three hems down, three to go. Wetting the end of the thread in his mouth, he quickly prepared the needle and began sewing on the next hem. Ianto watched as the tailor made stitch after perfectly identical stitch with unerring accuracy.

“In this particular time period, people are trying to get control of their lives in so many areas; they want to have the society they fought so hard and long for. So, they’ve become reactive to the previous times and practices. During the war, women were needed to man the factories, to replace men so they could go and win the war.” He paused and surveyed his progress on the trouser leg.

“But with the defeat of the Nazis and peace in Europe, thousands of men returned home, and both they and the unions were scared there would be no jobs for them to come back to. With the end of the war, factories that had been dedicated to the war effort shut down; they weren’t needed any more. The unemployment rate skyrocketed, and well, uncertain times breed social unrest, and it was similar to what happened in the depression, following the Great War.

With the last hem on the suit trousers finished, Jaques turned his attention to the leisure trousers. Frowning when he didn’t like the match of the thread he’d already chosen, he went over to his cabinet and poked around for a moment. Returning to his seat, he compared three different spools against the fabric and finally settled on one.

“Now, where was I?”

Ianto smiled at the alien. He knew Jaques was working hard to keep him entertained, to keep his mind off the potential dangers that Jack might be facing out there alone. He was grateful for the effort, but he also wished the man would finish; he had questions about the Jack from this time that only the displaced alien could answer. “Civil unrest and unem…”

“Got it. So when the men came back from the trenches, the prevailing expectation was that the women would return to the home, and the men would go back to work. Everyone wanted a return to simpler times, to re-establish the stereotypes, to what they viewed as ‘the norm’.” Jaques snorted lightly. “Even though it wasn’t the norm and hadn’t been for a long time. Many women worked in the 1930’s, mainly because employers could pay them being a lower wage than they could a man, so quite a few business employed the cheaper labour.

“As a result of the turmoil of the war and the resulting upheaval in economics and employment, there’s been a backlash against all the changes, and the general mood is now for very specific, rather narrowly defined gender roles. And any behaviour that doesn’t fit into those acceptable categories is viewed as an anathema and is feared.”

Ianto nodded. “So the reason society is homophobic is because men were afraid they wouldn’t have job when they returned from the war?” He smiled and shook his head.

“Simplistic, but on the whole, true. If you are going to have very specific gender roles and hold them up as the only way, then naturally, what doesn’t fit has to be vilified and feared. There is also the fear of communism. Doesn’t fit into the ideal of Patriarchal western society. Control is power.” Jaques set his sewing down and looked at his guest. “I’m sorry, Ianto, I’m going on, aren’t I? My main field of knowledge is Earth sociology; I used to lecture. It’s been so long since I’ve had someone I could really talk to about all of this that I’m thoroughly enjoying the discussion! I’m sorry if it’s boring you.”

“No, not at all!” Ianto hastened to assure him. “It’s very interesting. I studied at Library Studies at Uni with a big dose of history, and I’ve always hankered after the more sociological subjects, like how people lived as opposed to which government won which war.”

Content in the knowledge that he wasn’t boring or talking over Ianto’s head, Jaques continued, happy to keep him distracted. “Western society, generally, wanted to go back to ‘the good old days’. And that’s been idealised as a solid family group - mother at home looking after the 2.5 children, the man out in the world, working to ‘bring home the bacon.’ Anything not fitting in was feared.” The tailor sighed deeply. “I believe a lot of fears and prejudices are nothing more than a fear of not fitting in with the rest of society, with the norm, as well as not having any power over oneself, no autonomy.”

“Very interesting,” Ianto looked pensive, “So it follows, by applying the same premise to groups such as blacks, gays, gypsies, Jews, all sorts of prejudices can be explained,” he said with a smile, and then added, “even ‘aliens’.” His eyes twinkled.

“Yes,” Jaques chucked, “even aliens. So, that’s the theory; it can also be said that to give a reason for the prejudices, those who perpetuate them use very broad generalisations. It’s easier to make them about groups of people, instead of a single person you might have to actually come face to face with.” Jaques had finished one leg and was starting on the next one. “I’m glad your arms are the same length as the person these suits were made for; it’s a bugger to change the sleeves; you have to move buttons, for one thing. It’s nowhere near as easy as taking down some trousers.”

“Who’s taking down whose trousers, and don’t you dare start without me!” Jack came breezing into the room, laden with several parcels and a duffle bag. “They’re going to deliver the rest in about,” he looked at his watch, “an hour." Jack smiled his big, toothy grin. “I got a bit carried away and bought lots of clothes.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

“Why, Sir, I’m surprised.” Ianto raised an eyebrow as he deadpanned back at Jack. “You never get carried away.”

“Oh, Ianto, we better get rooms that are close together! You know what calling me ‘Sir’ does to me.”

“And to the little captain as well, Sir.” Ianto smiled; it was good to see Jack a little more relaxed.

“Bit less of the ‘little’, if you don’t mind. I’ve seen how my captain makes your eyes bulge.” Jack grinned lasciviously and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Jack!” Ianto blushed. Jack looked at him and thought to himself, _‘down Jack; down my not-so-little captain._ ’ “Okay, so what’ve you guys been talking about?” Jack kept his eyes on Ianto, enjoying watching the blush creep across his face and then fade away. “Is it me?”

“We are having an interesting discourse on the theories of prejudice.” The tailor answered without looking up. Having seen how the younger man blushed with Jack’s teasing, he found the two of them utterly endearing. _‘I’m not sure who’s the luckier, Ianto, or the future Captain.’_

“The theory of power, the lack of power and the place of the patriarch in society?” Jack replied as he hoisted himself up on the table, leaving his long legs hanging next to Ianto.

His lover looked surprised. “You have an interest in sociology?” he asked, looking at Jack.

Jack just grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

“I’ve been here for a very long time, Ianto,” Jaques replied, “and I’ve known Jack for almost all of it. Sociology is my field of study, along with history, well, not this planet’s history, anyway. Sewing was always just a hobby back on my world, but here on Earth, it allows me to work and have freedom from Torchwood. Jack and I have had many long discussions over a good whisky. It would seem that our good Captain has remembered quite a bit from our times together.” The alien looked at Jack and smiled fondly. “This pleases me greatly, Jack.”

The time traveller smiled back, remembering those nights. “Has he got to the bit where he compares the different times and how the bible has been used as a reason for suppression?”

“No, not yet, but it sounds interesting. Go on, please.” Ianto looked at Jaques, waiting.

“Wait, Jaques, before you start,” Jack looked at Ianto. “Would you be your wonderful self and make me a coffee?” he implored. “Shopping is thirsty business!”

Ianto nodded his head indulgently at the man. “You are one behind us, after all. Jaques, would you like a coffee as well?” He headed for the kitchen.

“If you’re sure it’s no trouble, that would be lovely!” The tailor beamed at him. While Ianto was out of the room, Jaques looked seriously at Jack. “Did you have any troubles?”

“None.” Jack grinned. “Went off without a hitch. Well, almost.”

“What do you mean, almost?” Jaques’ voice was sharp.

“One of the clerks noticed that some of the sizes didn’t exactly fit me, so I told him that a mate of mine from the war had just lost everything in a house fire.” Jack took off his greatcoat and settled himself in Ianto’s vacant chair. “Told him that a bunch of the guys who’d served with him had all donated what money they could, and we were helping him get set back up.”

The tailor nodded with approval. “Excellent cover.”

“It was until he got to the pants and vests. He asked me how I ‘knew another man’s sizes in those garments’,” Jack’s voice changed as he mimicked the clerk. “’Where was my list?’ I just tapped my head and told him up here, photographic memory. I said it certainly came in handy when we were behind enemy lines. When it looked like he was going to say more, I asked him where he’d been during the fighting.” Jack grinned smugly. “That shut him right up.”

“What if he’d had an answer for you?”

“Never gonna happen.” Jack stated emphatically. “It was obvious he’d never left the supply hut on base.”

The alien sighed deeply. “One of these days, Jack, your luck is going to run out.” He looked up, “Ah, Ianto. Perfect timing!” and accepted a mug of steaming coffee.

Ianto handed Jack his mug, making sure that their fingers brushed against one another, sending a shower of sparks flying through their veins. With a quirk of his eyebrow, he then waited for Jack to remove himself from his chair before sitting down and sipping his own coffee. “Now, where were we?”

“Well, my main centre of sociological study was the Judea-Christian writings. But I believe other books have similar stories and rules that have been interpreted. It’s the way they are interpreted and how that interpretation is used that was my main work.”

“Would you give me an example? Even in my time, people are quoting from the bible as a reason someone should be, I guess discriminated against is the best term.” Ianto was getting a bit agitated; he was remembering a week ago, now so many years in the future, when he and Jack had been walking along, hand-in-hand. An elderly lady had come up to them and started berating them, telling them how they were being ‘ungodly’ and how they were going against ‘the good book’. She had concluded her rant by insisting that they were both going to go to hell if they didn’t repent and change their wicked ways. The encounter had left Ianto shaken by her religious zeal, and Jack angered by her intolerance.

Jack knew immediately that Ianto was becoming upset; he considered himself an expert in the young man’s body language. He also was thinking of the mean, narrow-minded woman; _‘that’s probably what’s riled Ianto.’_ He reached out and stroked his lover’s back, calming Ianto with his touch, much as he had that afternoon.

“Yan, sweetie, what other people say, it doesn’t change how I feel about you. They’re just small-minded bigots. Jaques, can you give Ianto some examples, you know, some of the ones that are blatantly ridiculous?” Jack continued stroking Ianto’s back; he could feel the younger man trembling beneath his hand, and he frowned. He hadn’t realised just how upset Ianto had been, and apparently still was. _‘Damn that old bag,’_ he thought. _‘She was certainly no lady, ranting at us the way she did. Ianto had seemed so cool; at the time, I didn’t think it affected him, but then he’s so good at not being ruffled in public.’_

The tailor looked up, noting the distressed look on Ianto’s face and the look of concern for his young lover on the Captain’s. “Well, the bible has a long been used, and parts quoted, sometimes as a whole, sometimes out of context, to openly say and to insinuate many things.” He paused and sipped his coffee. “For example, it’s been used to say that women who wear trousers are the devil. Yes, either the devil or a heretic. It was the only charge brought against Joan of Arc; not that she heard the voice of God, that she led armies of men into battle, or because she dissed the current leadership. No, she was in her rights to do that. But dare to wear men’s clothing? Absolute heresy! Didn’t mean a thing that she saved thousands, she was burned at the stake for being a heretic, for wearing trousers.”

Ianto began looking less distressed and more interested again. Jaques continued; “For a long time, women were considered to not have souls; again, an interpretation of something in the bible. Only males had a soul; females were considered to be nothing more than the chattel of men, be it her father, brother or husband. Farm animals were held in higher regard than a woman. Now, I’m not the best with quotes, but it was something like this, ‘for the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.’” The tailor set his work on the table and stood. “Now Ianto, just bear with me a moment and I will get a paper from my safe; it’s part of some lecture notes, and I think you will find it very interesting.” Jaques left the two men in the workroom.

“You okay, Yan? I know it’s not a nice think to think about and especially when it’s aimed at you. I’m sorry I didn’t realise that that old biddy from last week had upset you so much.” Jack took the opportunity of privacy to pull his young lover into his arms. After kissing him thoroughly, he tucked Ianto’s head under his chin. “Why didn’t you let on?”

Content to be held close to Jack, Ianto shrugged. “I didn’t realise that words could hurt so much, Jack. I mean, she looked just like my gran, and I guess that made it feel more personal, more of an attack on _me._ I guess I did let it get to me, but being here had made me realise how much better it is for us now, even if not in all countries, though.” He wrapped his arms around the immortal’s waist and leaned deeper into Jack’s caress, sighing. He relished the few minutes they had in one another’s arms before the alien history buff returned to the workroom.

“Okay, here it is. It was written by a colleague of mine as part of some course or another he was teaching. I think he used it mainly to show how the meaning of and the intent behind words can be changed over time.” Jaques flipped through several pages of old-looking yellowing paper. “I don’t know why he picked this topic; maybe I was a bigger influence on his studies than I thought.” The tailor passed the paper to Jack and instructed, “You read it,” so he could take up his needle again.

Jack took a few moments to scan through the paper; he noticed that it contained at least six references to the Book of Leviticus, from the Bible. He quickly read through them, noting that they all dealt with the act of homosexuality as a mortal sin, considering it no less than murder. Jack had never read the Bible, himself, but one of the men under his command in 1943 had been a devout church-goer who spent most of his free time reading from a well-used copy of the book. He’d witnessed numerous discussions between the man and his fellow pilots regarding one point or another, although homosexuality and Leviticus had never been cited.

Realising that both Ianto and Jaques were waiting to hear from him, Jack cleared his throat and sat back. “Well, it looks like your friend…?” He paused and looked at Jaques.

“Campbell. Douglas Campbell.” Jaques supplied the name without missing a stitch.

“Campbell has quoted Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, both of which declare that the act of men lying together as they would with a woman is an abomination, and that anyone who does such should be put to death.” He looked at Ianto, who gazed back calmly, and then he continued. “However, your friend also says that both of these verses refer not to homosexuals but to heterosexuals who took part in the Baal fertility rituals, which were actually used to guarantee good crops and healthy flocks. In their original context, there was never even a hint of sexual orientation or homosexuality implied.”

Jack flipped a page over and then shrugged and flipped it back again. “In fact, Campbell states that in Leviticus, the word abomination was used for anything that was considered to be religiously unclean or associated with idol worship.”

Ianto frowned. “But Leviticus has been used more than any other Bible text to condemn and reject gay and lesbian people!” he protested. “When I was a kid and I’d stay the weekend with my Nan, she’d take me to church with her, and to this day, I remember one sermon that left me quaking in my boots. It was all about hellfire and brimstone, and the tortures that Satan had waiting for anyone who so much as looked at member of the same sex.” He shuddered. “I was too afraid to even use the toilet at school for a month, in case someone thought I was even thinking about them!”

“And look at you now, thinking about me all the time!” Jack’s eyes twinkled as he looked at Ianto fondly. “My, how the times have changed.”

Ianto’s eyes narrowed and he looked sternly back at Jack. “So what am I thinking now?”

While Ianto’s tone was severe, Jaques could see the laughter twitching at the corners of the young Welshman’s mouth. ‘ _Jack has certainly met his match in this young man,’_ he thought.

Slightly aroused by the look on Ianto’s face, Jack cleared his throat and continued with his impromptu lecture. “Campbell goes on to give his students some study materials that he says will help them, and I quote, ‘…think objectively…’ about traditional abusive use of the Bible regarding homosexuals.”

Jaques looked up with interest. “Oh, really? I admit, it’s been a number of years since I read this paper myself.” He gestured with Ianto’s half-hemmed trouser leg. “What else does he say?”

Jack grinned at his friend and read, “The use of Leviticus to condemn and reject homosexuals is obviously a hypocritically selective use of the Bible against gays and lesbians. He says that nobody today tries to keep the laws in Leviticus 11:1-12, where all unclean animals are forbidden as food, including rabbits, pigs, and shellfish, such as oysters, shrimp, lobsters, crabs, clams, and others that are called an ‘abomination’.” 

Chuckling, Jaques responded, “That’s been the majority of my diet at one time or another!” His tone grew wistful. “The things they can do with seafood on Cantisopolous Three, it’s almost as good as an orgasm.” He realised that the other two men were watching at him, Jack with a knowing gleam in his eyes, and Ianto with a quizzical look on his face. The tailor cleared his throat. “What else does Leviticus say?”

“Let’s see.” Jack quickly read forward and then summarised. “Campbell gives several more passages in here, citing such diverse topics as resting on the Sabbath day, to carrying out a proper animal sacrifice, to no sex during a woman’s period. There are regulations regarding the forbidden mixed breeding of certain types of cattle, and even listing seeds you can’t sow together, and…” Jack snorted in derision.

Amused by the sound, Ianto looked up from the spools of thread he’d been idly playing with while he listened. “What’s so funny?”

“Campbell even found a passage that forbids wearing a garment made from two kinds of material mixed together.” Jack shook his head. “You think they’d have had better things to think about back then! Listen to this bit. Leviticus 19:27 demands that you shall not round off the side-growth of your heads, nor harm the edges of your beard.” He looked up in time to see Ianto grimace.

“Can you imagine how ungroomed they were?” The fastidious young man winced. “Thank God for the man who invented shaving!” Reflexively, he reached up and stroked the side of Jack’s face, and then smiled approvingly. “So much better this way.”

The intimacy of the gesture was not lost on Jaques, and he smiled. “Then I’d skip a trip to Gallanggan, if I were you. Absolute savages there; wouldn’t know a hair comb or a tooth brush if it bit them in the arse.”

“Noted.” Jack laughed. “No hairy savages with bad breath for Ianto.”

“Fine by me!” Ianto shrugged. “Are there any more things that Leviticus demands or forbids?”

“Well, the next verse forbids tattoo marks on yourself.” Jack offered.

“Uhg! I hate needles!” Ianto exclaimed.

“Umm, excuse, me,” Jaques cleared his throat. “Working here.”

Ianto grinned at the alien. “Present company accepted, of course,” and he bowed in his seat.

“Thank you.” Jaques nodded his head back. “You know, the vast majority of people have no idea that these laws are in the Bible, much less that the book demands that they be given equality of observation with all the others.” He finished the last stitch on the leisure trousers and clipped off the thread. “Did you ever wonder why the religious fundamentalists don't organise protests and picket seafood restaurants, oyster bars, church barbecue suppers, as well as all the grocery stores, barber shops, tattoo parlours, and stores that sell suits and dresses made of mixed wool, cotton, polyester, and other materials?”

He stood and shook the wrinkles from Ianto’s trousers before hanging them neatly on the hanger with their matching jacket. “After all, according to Leviticus, all of these products and services are ‘abominations’. I mean, when was the last time you heard a preacher condemn the demonic abomination of garments that are made of mixed fabrics?” 

Jack and Ianto both laughed. “Would that be while he was wearing his crisp cotton-polyester blend shirt, or his wool-blend suit?” Ianto quipped.

Jaques chuckled. “You know, I always thought Douglas put in the bit about the clothes so he could tease me. I was always going on about natural fibres and how they’re better than a mixed man-made fibre.”

The tailor carefully folded the spare trousers into tissue paper and set them inside an empty box he pulled down from the shelf. “I’ll tell you why you never see them object to any of it,” he said, getting back on topic. “It’s because all those religious nuts are too busy enjoying all the forbidden abominations they can get their hands on. They’ve made homosexuality the focus of their hate to keep attention off the fact that they’re breaking the laws of Leviticus every time they enjoy lovely crispy bacon with their morning toast and coffee!”

“Now, humans aren’t the only hypocritical race in…” Jack was interrupted when the shop’s doorbell rang.

“I think that’s your delivery Jack.” The tailor nodded towards the front of his store. “You take care of that, and I’ll finish up with this lot.”

Jack went out and signed for the delivery, and once the delivery boy was gone and the door locked again, Ianto emerged into the main shop. He was surprised by just how many packages there were. “I can see why you had it delivered, but how are we going to carry all this around with us?” Ianto queried.

“Simple; we’ll order a taxi. Jaques, we will come back tomorrow for the rest of the suits. Thank you for being a good friend.” Jack kissed Jaques on the cheek and swept out to find a taxi.

“Well, Ianto, help me pack up the suits that are ready; knowing him, he won’t be long.” The tailor got a bag for the new suits and moved all the bags and packages over to the door.

“Thank you Jaques. It has been very interesting talking to you. I’m sorry you’re stuck in this time; I really wish there was a way to take you home, or at least forward in to a more tolerant time.” Ianto shook his hand, and then did as Jack did, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s fine Ianto. I have my friends, and I am enjoying my life; I actually think I am finding more contentment with my tailoring than the teaching. I do sometimes miss my friends from my former life, but I have made new friends.” He smiled at Ianto. “Now, when you come over tomorrow, I will give Jack the name of a very good, very discrete men’s club where you can show your affection without worry. If your Jack is anything like mine, Jack will need to show his feelings. He has, well, _my_ Jack has some problems with behaviour; he’s not the best at discretion. That’s how I found out he doesn’t stay dead.” Jaques looked sad for a moment. “I can understand how hard it is to watch a person die and then see the painful look on his face when he comes back...”

“I always try to be there, to hold him when he comes back. It’s a small thing, I know, but I hope it helps.” Ianto was looking out the window, not looking at the alien.

Jaques watched a myriad of emotions parade across Ianto’s face. “He is so very taken with you, Ianto. Please be careful. I don’t want either of you hurt whilst you are in this time.”

“We will be careful, don’t worry. Ah, here he is. Thank you, again, Jaques, for all you’ve done for us. We’ll be back tomorrow for the other clothes.” As the taxi driver walked into the shop to help collect the packages, Ianto shook Jaques hand one last time and then went to assist the other two men with the parcels.

_‘Jack’s in for one heck of a fashion show tonight!’_ he thought as he deposited his load of boxes and bags in the taxi. _‘Oh yeah!’_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Tosh tapped away at her computer. Gwen was sitting not far away, chewing on her thumbnail and casting worried glances up at Jack’s office, as if expecting him to appear. Unable to sit still any longer, she got up and went to Tosh’s desk.

“So will it work, will you be able to get Jack back?” Gwen looked over the computer genius’ shoulder, not that she would be able to understand the line of information scrolling past, but it made her feel like she was doing something useful towards bringing the immortal back home to her.

“Jack and Ianto! Geez, how many times do I have to say it, Jack AND Ianto!” Owen growled out, gnashing his teeth in frustration. “We have lost two members of our team, not just Jack.”

Gwen just shrugged her shoulders, ignoring the medic’s words. She didn’t look at all repentant. “Yes, for pity’s sake, I know. Give it a rest already, Owen. I know! Jack and Ianto; it’s just quicker to say one name.”

Owen shook his head, not believing her. He hadn’t realised just how selfishly absorbed in Jack Gwen was until their ill-fated and thankfully short affair following the cannibals of Brecon Beacons. “Maybe you should call Rhys and tell him you’re gonna be really late?”

“I’ll leave him a message.” Gwen pulled her mobile from her pocket and walked over to sit on the sofa.

“Tosh, me love, how’s it going?” Owen threw himself down on the chair on the other side of her. “You’re doing great,” and he flashed her a rare grin.

Smiling at him gratefully for distracting Gwen, she pointed towards one of the monitors. “I’ve got them hooked up to a meter; it’s measuring how much of a charge they each have right now. We’ll know in a few minutes if it’s enough.”

Owen looked at the data on the monitor, but to him it was wavy lines and numbers. “Can you get the bowling ball batteries to interface with the device?”

“Bowling ball batteries!” Gwen’s phone call hadn’t taken long, and she was back, hovering at Toshiko’s elbow again. “I thought we got marble batteries from the Archives; don’t tell me I expended all that energy and they’re not the right ones?” Gwen rubbed her hand, remembering how hard she had to scrub to get the glitter off. She looked up at Owen, noticing there was still a faint shimmer over his body.

“They were so fricking heavy that Tosh and I decided they’re more like bowling balls than marbles.” Owen rubbed at a patch of his skin with some Sorboline; this was the third different substance he had tried to get the glitter off. He was leaving the alcohol as a last option; he’d noticed when he went to the toilet earlier that the glitter was literally everywhere.

“Hey, Gwen, did you notice if the glitter got under your clothes as well?” Owen asked off-handedly.

The former PC stood up and ran to the bathroom, leaving both Owen and Tosh laughing out loud. “It seems to spread very easily by touch,” he offered. “Ya think she had her way with old Rhys-boy last night? If she did, he’ll be all glittery as well.” Owen snickered to himself.

“Is it really that bad?” Tosh looked away from the screen for a mere second before looking back.

“Yep; unless I want to bat for the other team, I reckon it will be me ‘n Mrs Palmer for a few more days.” Owen’s snicker got bigger.

Tosh stopped typing for a moment and blinked several times, processing the medic’s words. When she got what the doctor was saying, she blushed slightly and started snickering herself. “Oh poor Owen.” The laughter began to bubble out of her. “That must be a sight to see!” Suddenly realising what she’d just said, her blush intensified, but she didn’t stop laughing.

“What did I miss?” Gwen stomped back across the Hub, thinking, _‘I hope it didn't rub off on Rhys, the ungrateful oaf. He has rugby practice in…_ ’ she looked at her watch. _‘Oh, great! Now I don’t have time to warn him._ ’ She wasn’t sure if she was mad or happy about that fact.

“Nothing,” Tosh answered, managing to keep a straight face. “I’m still trying to get a better interface with the batteries to recharge the device. The one I’ve set up is working, but it’s slow. It looks like it may be two or three days before it is at half-charge, and I would prefer to have it at full charge, just to make sure they don’t get dropped off somewhere on the way back.” Tosh pushed her glasses back up her nose and checked the calibrations again.

“No!” Gwen gasped. “I can’t wait that long for Jack to come back!” and she stamped her foot like bratty child. “You’d better find a way to make those damn batteries work faster, Tosh.”

“So,” Owen completely ignored Gwen’s outburst. “It may be a week before we get them back?” Tosh nodded. “Well, that’s just bloody great, isn’t it! What happens if we’re invaded by alien hordes, and more importantly, what’ll I do without my caffeine?”

“The Rift is looking remarkably quiet; I’m not expecting anything big for roughly the next two weeks, although there is a little blip due to arrive in about seventeen hours’ time. It looks like it will be,” Tosh quickly flicked over to another screen, “a small flower or plant.”

“Really?” Gwen gawped at the computer tech, her mouth hanging open. “You’ve managed to work out that it’s a plant?”

“No, Gwen,” the other woman shook her head sadly. “I was trying to lighten the mood. I know that it’s small, but I’ve no idea what it is. It looks like it’s dead, or it’s never been alive, so I would say it’s definitely an inanimate object.” Unable to stop herself, she added, “I’d have told everyone if I had been able to fine tune the predictor enough to give out information that accurately.” Tosh rolled her eyes, making Owen giggle again.

“Tosh, you’d make Tea-Boy proud with that eye roll.”

“Thanks, Owen, have to keep up the tradition.” Tosh blushed slightly at the medic’s unexpected praise.

“You should be more worried about bringing Jack back,” Gwen snarled at her two team-mates, “than trying to make stupid jokes.”

A pithy response on her lips, Tosh looked towards Gwen, who was looking at her mobile, reading a text that had just come in, and she paused.

“Anything wrong, PC Cooper?” Owen noted the look on her face.

“Ah, no, that glitter stuff gets everywhere and transfers to others very easily, doesn't it?” Gwen chewed on her lower lip.

“Yes, why? Has Rhys got some on him?” Owen tried not to laugh, really he did, but because Gwen insisted on keeping everyone informed of the mundane details of her life, whether they wanted to know or not, so he had a good idea that it was Rhys’ rugby training night. He could just picture the reception the man must have gotten if he had some of the sticky glitter on him, and he nearly toppled from his chair with laughter.

_‘What did I ever see in him?’_ Gwen shot him a disdainful glance. “Yeah, he only noticed when he got changed for rugby, and he’s not very happy with me.”

“What did he say to his mates? Bet Banana Boat wasn’t very complimentary.” Owen was having trouble controlling his laughter.

“He blamed me, told them I must of dropped my glitter body powder in his bag,” she complained. “Now he says I have to buy him all new kit and bag. You should pay for it all, Owen, it’s your fault.”

“No way, sweetheart, he’s your fella, your problem. Now ladies, I am going home to have a spa bath. Hopefully, the movement of the water will help dislodge the rest of the glitter.” With that, Owen left, leaving Tosh trying not to laugh too obviously at Gwen, who was still ranting on to no one in particular about stupid doctors and inconsiderate men.

Tosh was able to ignore Gwen for a while, but after about a half an hour, the former PC realised Tosh wasn’t listening to her. Irritated, Gwen stomped over to the techie’s desk and nudged her none too gently. “Tosh, I’m right, aren't I?” she demanded.

The computer genius looked down her nose at the annoying woman, and then she shook her head dismissively and continued scanning the battery-charging program.

“Tosh, this is important!” Gwen yelled, and she was about to continue when Tosh lost her temper.

Slamming her hands down on her desk, mild-mannered Toshiko Sato surged to her feet. “No, Gwen, it’s not! It’s not important, and neither are you. The whole world does not revolve around you or your stupid, petty problems. You are the most self-centred person I have ever met!” Her eyes flashed with fire.

“You are only interested in making yourself look good. We are a team and you are not a team player. If you want to complain, go home and complain to poor Rhys. But if I were you, I would do anything and everything I could to make him happy. He’s a nice man who you never worry about, unless it gets you noticed or out of doing work.” With that, Tosh set the computer on automatic, picked up her bag and as she walked out the cog door, she yelled to Gwen, “Transfer the Rift predictor to my mobile in half-an-hour, and I’ll watch for alerts from home. Just press the big blue button; it’s under the green button, which routes the alerts to your mobile, but since you’ve never bothered to take your turn, you wouldn't know that, would you?” Tosh actually sneered at Gwen. “And don’t touch my computer; it’s set to charge those batteries.”

Gwen stood there, completely stunned, and doing a very impressive fish impersonation. “What did I do to deserve that?” she asked the empty room. After looking at the time, she sat down, and sent an apology text to Rhys.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The two men sat in the taxi, sitting on either end of the bench seat in the back. Ianto glanced at Jack; it was strange sitting there with such a distance between them. In the past, when sharing a taxi, it was usually after a night on the town. Ianto would be a bit pissed, which always made him very tactile, and Jack enjoyed his Ianto like that, soft, warm and quite friendly.

Tucked into his corner of the seat, with a stack of packages creating a demilitarised zone between them, Jack smiled to himself. He was thinking about the last taxi trip they had taken. He and Ianto had been to the local pub to watch Wales vs. Australia in the rugby, along with the rest of the team; Rhys had come along as well. Jack liked the way Ianto and Rhys got along. The two Welshmen compared stats, generally laughing and talking about the game and its players.

Just watching Ianto have a good time was enough for Jack. It made him happy seeing Ianto happy. He even agreed they would go to the next live rugby match in Cardiff, Rift permitting. The older man had never seen a rugby match before he met Ianto, and he had only watched that first game because Ianto wanted too. In fact, he had sulked a bit until he saw the teams on the telly. Jack quickly discovered that watching fit men running around the pitch, wearing rather short shorts and getting mud all over themselves, had a certain appeal for him.

Add in a pumped-up Ianto, who was jumping around, hugging Jack, and it was a good night, which got even better when Ianto’s team won. They had thoroughly enjoyed their private, post-match celebrations, including those up against the shower wall, on the sofa in the lounge, sprawled across Ianto’s king-sized bed… they’d enjoyed the hell out of any and all of them. As a result, Jack had become quite the rugby fan.

“Jack, what’ch you thinking about? You have a pretty big grin on your face,” queried the younger man.

“Just thinking about rugby.” He replied honestly.

“Rugby?” Ianto raised an eyebrow at the response. “Never would have picked that. You sitting there, contemplating rugby.”

“Just remembering the last match we watched and the celebrations we had afterwards.” Jack smiled and looked at the younger man who began to blush.

“Yeah, that was a fun way to celebrate a win.” Ianto grinned and his blush deepened, which made Jack laugh, and the driver look back at them.

Suddenly aware that they had an audience, the rest of the trip was quiet, each man thinking back on all of the ways they had celebrated that night and how much fun it had been.

“Right, gents, we’re here.” The driver’s thick Cockney accent broke into their daydreams. “Do you want me to take the bags in for you?” Ianto peered out the window to discover that the taxi had arrived outside the Windsor Hotel.

Ianto got out of the vehicle and looked at the hotel. It was medium-sized, with a concierge and a doorman, but not a large number of people going in and out. He turned and followed Jack and the driver inside.

“I picked this one for a couple of reasons,” Jack whispered as the driver put the baggage on a trolley. “It’s not too big, not too small, not too cheap but not overly expensive. Now, adjoining rooms or separate floors?”

“Whatever you think is okay, or available.” The younger man replied, whilst looking around the lobby. The décor was discrete, not over the top, a good, solid, respectable hotel.

Jack waited until the taxi driver had gone and then walked up with Ianto to the reception counter. “Hello,” Ianto looked at Jack in surprise; he was using a perfect Welsh accent. “My brother and I would like some rooms. We would like to stay for a week, with possibly another week. We’re here to do some business. Do you have a pair of rooms with a connecting door, or adjacent rooms?”

Jack winked at Ianto when the receptionist was looking at her books.

“Yes, sirs, we have a pair of rooms with a connecting door available. Now, one is larger than the other, but they should be sufficient for your needs.” The receptionist glanced up at Jack and her eyes widened slightly; she then made no attempt to hide the fact that she was looking Jack up and down. She turned towards Ianto next, and when he caught her eye, he grinned at her, letting her know he’d seen her perusing his brother. Caught out, she blushed slightly and hastily returned her gaze to Jack’s face.

Jack took advantage of her embarrassment and smiled his toothiest Jack Harkness smile at her, saying, “That would be fine…” he leaned closer to her on the pretext of reading her name tag. “…Adelaide. We can spend most of our time in the larger room, using it as our office, and for sorting out the paperwork that brought us here. And since we’ve shared a room our whole lives – six sisters, you know – having our own rooms will be a luxury.” Adelaide smiled and nodded, enchanted by the immortal’s charm. Jack organised the paperwork, giving their names as Ianto and Jack Jones.

Pausing by the newsstand to let the porter take the lift before them, Ianto quietly commended Jack for saying they were brothers, “Makes sharing the rooms perfectly natural,” and then he queried, “Where, or should I ask, when, did you learn the accent?”

“Well, having lived in Cardiff for a long time, you do tend to pick up the nuances of the accent, plus I love listening to you talk. Besides, being able to fit in with the locals has helped me before. I can do a passable English accent, and my Scottish is supposed to be brilliant, although I never could get the Yorkshire one right, though.” He pressed the button for the lift and stepped into the car when the doors opened.

“You’re gonna have to let me hear your other accents sometime.” Ianto smirked. “I really want to hear some of those beautiful Scottish vowels!” He ducked out of the way of Jack’s grabby hands. “But couldn’t you have thought of a better name than Jones?”

“The key to a good con is keeping it simple, which is why I used your name. Jones is a good Welsh name; you’d never hear of Harkness in Wales as a native last name. And you’re right; being brothers, they wouldn’t think twice about us spending time in the same room.”

Ianto nodded and followed Jack out of the lift and down the hall, remembering to maintain a proper distance between them. When they arrived at their rooms, the porter was just starting to unload their luggage from the trolley. Jack instructed the spotty-faced young man to leave it all in the first, smaller room, as they had to organise the packages. Silently, the man nodded and did as requested, and then accepted his tip with a grateful smile. As he left the room, he informed them of the times when dinner and breakfast were served in the dining room.

“You know, I’m hungry, we didn’t get lunch.” Jack unlocked the connecting door and with a delighted cry, he disappeared into the second bedroom. Frowning, Ianto followed him, wondering what was so exciting, and found Jack bouncing on the bed, a normal double bed. Jack sprawled backwards with a huge grin on his face. “Hey, small bed, we’ll be cosy.”

“It’s larger than that cot you have down your man hole,” and Ianto quirked his eyebrow suggestively.

“But nowhere near as large as yours.” The double meaning was not lost on Ianto, who looked at Jack, sighed dramatically, and mumbled, “I could really do with some food, but come here you.” He walked towards Jack, who grabbed his hand and pulled him down on to the bed.

“We could do something very naughty for the 1950’s; does that appeal to you?” Jack muttered as he peppered Ianto’s neck with kisses, all the while divesting the younger man of his clothes. Ianto was equally adept at undressing his lover and in no time they were lost in each other, panting and enjoying each other, body and soul.

“We’ll sleep in the other room tonight, even though it is smaller.” Ianto said. Jack was lying next to him, playing with the hair on his chest. It was something he liked to do, share a post-coital snuggle, whenever Ianto didn’t fall asleep too quickly.

“Um, why, it’s larger in here.” Jack was distracted; he enjoyed stroking his hands over his lover’s body, playing with his nipples, and teasing him. The behaviours made him feel closer to Ianto, made him feel loving and loved.

“As Jaques said, we need to make sure both beds look slept in.” Ianto stretched and gave Jack a shove. “We do have to eat soon.”

“Why don’t we just make love twice a day, once in each room; that’ll solve the bed dilemma.” He smiled up at Ianto.

“Trust you to think of that,” Ianto grinned, “but then again, it’s not a bad idea.” Ianto sat up, pulling Jack up with him. “Let’s go next door and make that bed look slept in too, shall we?”

Jack laughed at his lusty companion. “You know, everyone thinks I’m the one with the greater sex drive.” He grabbed his lover’s hand and pulled him into an embrace. “If only they could see the sex maniac I get to see,” and the two men stumbled across the floor, nearly falling through the door. They didn’t let go even when they fell, writhing with passion, on to the bed, bodies pressed tightly together.

It was quite some time later that the two men lay wrapped in one another’s arm, legs tangled together; it had taken some doing, but they were finally sated and secure.

“Hey, Yan, let’s have a shower and get some dinner. We’ve got to eat if we’re gonna keep up this pace.”

“Yeah, but it’s nice and warm in bed.” Ianto snuggled down lower into the bedding, curling up next to his lover.

“I know, and if we could have room service, I wouldn’t budge from being in bed with you, but we can’t.” He bit lightly on Ianto’s arse and got up, heading to the bathroom.

The younger man groaned, smiled, and then followed his lover into the bathroom.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Gwen sat in the silence of the empty Hub, looking at Tosh’s computer screen. She was wondering what had upset the other two so badly. _‘Well’_ , she thought, ‘ _Owen was snarky because he was glittery, but Tosh, why did she go off at me. What did I do wrong; I didn’t send Jack to another time._ ’ She glared at the screens that were open on the computers in front of her. _‘I guess I could go home, yeah, I’ll go home, I’ll make Rhys apologise to me. It’s not my fault he got that glitter on him, the ungrateful bastard. Well, he isn’t getting any until he says sorry.’_

Gwen twirled the chair around, knocking the keyboard onto the floor. “Shit!” she exclaimed as she picked it up; all she could think about was getting out of the Hub before Tosh came back and discovered her carelessness. Without paying any attention to what she was doing, she shoved the keyboard back on the computer genius’ desk. She never even noticed when one of the monitors in front of her suddenly went blank, clearly indicating that she had turned a program off.

And not just any program, either. It was The Program, the one that Tosh had written to recharge the bowling ball batteries.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

“So, where are we going to go?” Ianto was drying his hair as he walked into Jack’s room. Jack was busy opening packages and sorting through the clothes. He had already put his on the bed and was in the process of laying out Ianto’s new clothes. When he heard Ianto’s voice, he glanced up and was greeted by the sight of his gorgeous young lover, wearing just a towel slung low on his hips. Jack’s knees grew weak and he sat down heavily on the bed, narrowly avoiding Ianto’s new clothes.

“Mr Jones,” Jack’s voice came out as a husky squeak; he cleared his throat and tried again. “If you want to get out of this room, ever, then you really should stop parading around, all wet and wearing only a towel.” Jack forgot all about unpacking their clothes; Ianto was just too distracting for the older man to concentrate on anything else but him.

“Well, I didn’t have any clothes to put on, so the options were a towel or nothing,” and he held up his hand. “Before you say anything, I know what your preference would be, and normally I’d agree, but I’m really hungry.” Ianto looked at some of the clothes, picking up a suit, shirt and underwear and wandered back through the connecting door.

Jack shook his head, murmuring “cheeky boy” affectionately as he waited for his blood to return to his brain.

Within minutes, Ianto walked back through the door, dressed in his 1950’s clothes. As he stood before Jack, he was fiddling with his tie and belt and frowning.

“I didn’t even think about belts being different widths; this one is a bit skinny, and as the suit is fuller fitting, it looks wrong.” Ianto looked at Jack, who was looking him up and down. “What do you think?”

“Yeah, you do look different,” Jack’s eyes took in every detail. “It isn’t nearly as fitted as before; bend over and let me see your arse.”

“Jack.”

“Well, it was worth a try!” The immortal smirked at Ianto, who stood with his hands on his hips, half-glaring, half-smiling at his captain. “Okay, let’s see. The colour is not you, being a solid colour; I’m not used to that. You usually have a very fine pin stripe, and usually when you wear a white shirt, your tie is a bright colour, but this is just drab. I had forgotten how bland clothes for men were in this time.” Jack walked towards Ianto while talking and he put his arms around his lover, nuzzling his neck. “But I still think you’re gorgeous.”

Ianto kissed his lover and pointed to his feet. “My shoes don’t match; we’ll have to get some more tomorrow, and I guess, a hat?”

“I loved shopping for you; it was fun picking things out. Well, not the underwear, it’s not very inspiring in this time period.”

“I agree, Jack, so that’s why I’m going commando.”

Jack actually grew a little light-headed as, once again, all the blood rushed from his brain to points south. He finally managed to gasp, “Oh, really!”

Satisfied that he’d gotten precisely the response he wanted, Ianto kissed Jack and smiled at him. “Yep, and I’m very hungry, so I ask you again, where are we going to go?” Ianto kissed him again and then pushed him towards the door. “We have to go now, or we won’t, and I need food if we’re going to keep two beds messed up tonight.”

Once again, Jack willed his body to relax; he couldn’t leave their room until he did. He knew Ianto was smirking as he faced the door, and the urge to rip those new clothes off that lithe young body was almost too much. But, he also knew that Ianto spoke the truth about their needing to eat; even his 51st century metabolism needed fuel. It took a few minutes, but Jack was finally ready to be seen in polite society and not be arrested for indecency.

“Jaques suggested the Vauxhall, said we will probably not get in trouble there, but if we go to a normal place, we have to behave, not an easy thing to do with you around.” Jack grabbed a handful of Ianto’s bottom as he went through the door, and then laughed when Ianto swatted his hand. “What! It was one last grope for the road.”

Ianto shook his head and led the way to the stairs. “Do you know the address? Can we just get in a taxi and asked to be taken to the place? Or do we get dropped off nearby and walk?”

“The last,” Jack answered. “We ask to go to Glyn Street, and then it’s a one block walk from there. Should be interesting, I haven’t been there for a while. Now, don’t get upset if someone recognises me. I used to go there a lot, back then, whenever I came down to London. I haven’t thought about the place in years, not until Jaques mentioned it.” Jack stopped, thinking aloud; “1953, I bet we’ll be able to see one of the drag shows! They were always fun.”

“Drag shows, as in Danny La Rue? Was he around in these days?” Ianto was surprised; he remembered seeing Danny La Rue on the telly when he was a small child. “I just can’t get over how much times have changed in fifty years.”

“Yep, and generally for the better. Not only do gay people get recognised for their achievements instead of their sexual orientation, but homosexuality has been decriminalised. Right now, though, you’ll find the word ‘gay’ is not used yet; they still use ‘homosexual’ or even ‘faggot’, but lots of positive changes happen during the next five decades. Being a married woman in the fifties meant most women had to give up their jobs; it was very unusual for a married woman to continue to work outside the home. In some countries, even up to the 1970’s, there were government departments, with laws that forbade married women working. Now, women get equal pay.

“The fifties were, well are, only ideal for people who fit in the neat little boxes they want to put people in, but if you were at all outside the norm, heaven help you.” Jack stopped at the corner, ostensibly looking for a taxi; the two men had been walking while they talked. Mentally, however, Jack chastised himself as he looked around, thinking _‘I have got to be more careful talking like that; I don’t want to draw attention to us. I have to keep Ianto safe!’_

A taxi went past and Ianto hailed it. The two men got in and Jack gave their destination. They again, sat as far from each other as possible, and looked out of the windows, contemplating 1950’s London.

Jack paid the driver and the two men waited until the taxi was out of sight before they headed off towards the Vauxhall. “Jack, what will it be like inside?” Ianto was chewing on his bottom lip with a worried look on his face.

All Jack wanted to do was pull his lover into a hug and make it all better, but he knew that doing so would only make it worse. “It’s been a long time, a very long time, so I might not be too accurate, but there is a stage and they usually have a drag show every night, and, if I remember rightly, there are two bars, one for the ordinary clients and one for the more…” Jack paused and waggled his eyebrows up and down, “…flamboyant.”

Ianto grinned at Jack’s description. “So, are we classed as flamboyant?” Ianto looked down at his clothes, a very plain black suit, with a plain white shirt and plain black tie.

Jack looked at him and laughed with delight. “Well, Yan, if anybody asks, you’re flamboyant on the inside.”

Ianto laughed as well and was still smiling as they got to the door of the pub. “Ready to see the seedy underworld of London?” Jack looked at his young lover, thinking how much he loved him. Ianto nodded, an excited gleam in his eye, and they went inside.

The Vauxhall was not what Ianto expected; he didn’t know exactly what he was expecting, but he was taken aback at the sight of an ordinary, run-of-the-mill pub. He was actually a little disappointed; it looked just like any of the older pubs found in the older suburbs of Cardiff. There was the horseshoe-shaped bar, with its thick mahogany counter that was joined to the stage at either end. Several bartenders served drinks from behind the counter and there were quite a few people sitting at the bar, drinking.

They settled themselves down at a table in the corner and watched what was happening. After they had finished their first drinks and were waiting on some food, the stage show began. The drag show wasn’t anything over the top, quite mild even for the tastes of the 21st century men, but in comparison to the dowdy clothes seen on the majority of the men in attendance, the performers looked like beautiful peacocks, all bright colours and witty repartee.

Ianto jumped when the drag queens suddenly hollered loudly and then ran around on top of the bar. The men seated there seemed to be used to the commotion; they picked up their drinks quickly, leaned back and when the ‘ladies’ had finished their running around, they put their drinks back on the counter as though nothing had happened.

Jack and Ianto looked first at each other, then at the stage, back at each other, and then both burst into laughter over what had just happened on the stage and bar. They sat side-by-side, talking quietly and eating their dinner, occasionally touching hands, completely unselfconscious in their gestures.

“This is really nice, being able to sit here and not worry about people looking at us, or us making a wrong move or gesture, or saying something that could endanger us.” Jack picked up Ianto’s hand and kissed it, discretely dragging his tongue across his lover’s knuckles. Ianto’s eyes widened at the sensation, and he couldn’t help but cast a quick glance around to see if anyone had noticed. When he realised that no one was paying them any mind, he pulled Jack’s hand to his own lips and copied the gesture.

After dinner, the lovers were sitting quietly, people-watching, pointing out interesting things, half-listening to what was being said around them. Gradually, snippets of a conversation from the table next to them began drifting over to them.

“Did you hear about Alan Turing? He doesn’t have to go to prison, but they are making him undergo hormone therapy.” Ianto could hear the concern and outrage in the speaker’s voice, and he casually glanced in that direction. It was easy to tell which man was talking; he was leaned in, over the table, and his eyes darted about every few seconds. It was clear he was worried about being overheard by the wrong person, even at the Vauxhall. “He’s also lost his security clearance.”

The speaker’s two companions were clearly upset by the news and one of them exclaimed, “His life is ruined!”

“He reported a break-in at his home. The police got suspicious; don’t ask me why because I don’t know. But he was arrested and charged with ‘gross indecency.’ A third male voice answered bitterly.

The first man spoke again. “You know, I just heard about George. Remember him, used to come down from Watford every fortnight or so? He got picked up in one of the trawls through address books.”

There were resounding gasps from both other men. “What on Earth happened?” asked one,

“Seems his name was in the book of a man who got caught by undercover police picking up another man; this guy actually had his address book on him at the time, and the police looked through it during his booking. After that, it was basically a witch hunt. George was hauled in with about twenty other men whose names they found, and they were all accused of being part of a ‘homosexual ring.’”

At this point in the conversation, Jack realised that Ianto was becoming quite upset by what they were overhearing. He reached out to take the younger man’s hand, and was startled when Ianto pulled his hand away before Jack to touch him. Logically, he understood Ianto’s fear, but in his heart, the rejection was very painful. He started to say something witty, to relieve the tension at their table, but quickly saw that Ianto was completely engrossed in the other table’s speaker.

“He had never even met any of the other men! It’s just disgusting how out of control the police have become.” There was a murmur of agreement around the table, and then the man Ianto called Mr Angry began a new story. The archivist in him had assigned each man a name for easy identification at a later date. Mr Nervous was the first man Ianto had heard, and the second voice he called Mr Scared.

“There was that one case recently, in Bolton. There was no public sex, no underage sex, no multiple sex partners, nothing to warrant an arrest except some busy-body shopkeeper’s suspicions, yet these eight men were all dragged to court. The police decided a twenty-one-year-old man was the ringleader, and he was sentenced to twenty-one months in prison.”

Mr Angry snorted in derision. “There was a letter in the paper, the Bolton Evening News, written by a person called Horsfall, decrying the situation. Over the next few days, there were four more letters in support of these men, and none against, so I hear. But the police really took a beating in the public eye. Would you believe that the local police actually visited the deputy editor? They wanted to know if he thought this was what the people of Bolton really thought about the enforcement of that law.”

Ianto was chilled to the core, listening to the conversation. “I can’t believe it,” he whispered to Jack. “Being persecuted and thrown into gaol and losing your job just because of who you like to go to bed with. It’s just not fair!”

Jack put his hand over the younger man’s, and this time Ianto turned his own hand over and clasped Jack’s. “Calm down, Ianto. It’s going to get better, you know that. Society will become more enlightened, and the majority of people will come to understand that love is what’s important, not the gender of the ones in love.”

Ianto looked up at the older man, surprised by what he said. “You really believe that, Cariad, that love is the most important thing?” He couldn’t keep the hope from his voice, and he mentally winced. ‘ _God, please don’t let Jack think I’m as needy as I sound!’_

“Yes, I do. There are many forms of love; the love of and for your partner, the love of your siblings, your parents, children, and your friends. Each is different and each needs to be cherished.”

“You know, Jack Harkness, you’re just a big softie, and I wouldn’t change you for the world.” His earlier fears eased, Ianto leaned in and gave his love a gentle kiss on the lips.

The other man accepted the kiss, returned it in kind, and then, when Ianto moved back, Jack said, “Glad you did that here, would’ve caused troubles if you did it at the café this morning.”

Ianto put his hand over his mouth, a worried look on his face, and he cast a quick look around them. Had he gone too far just then? But, no, that couple over there were kissing quite passionately, so it must be okay, he reassured himself.

Jack stroked his hand, comforting the younger man. “It’s okay, Ianto, we’re fine here. I would never let you do anything dangerous, I promise.”

The younger man nodded, but still looked just a little unsure. Thinking quickly, Jack asked, “Yan, sweet, do you think you can go get us another round? I’m thirsty and could do with some more water.” Jack looked at his lover; sending him off to buy a round might give Ianto a bit of a confidence boost. It worried him that the longer they were in the fifties, the more withdrawn and insecure he became.

Jack made sure Ianto had an idea of which coins to use, and then watched him as he went to the bar. _‘Ianto’_ he thought, _‘I do understand what you’re going through. I had my doubts that I could take it when I landed so far back from my own time. It was hard to come to terms with an attitude so very different from how I was raised, but at least I didn’t have to fear how people would perceive me. My poor baby, don’t worry, I’ll look out for you. I probably should tell him this.’_

At the bar, Ianto was waiting to order his drinks when a man came up to him and asked, “The man you’re sitting with; is he a friend of Dorothy?” and he nodded towards Jack.

Ianto looked over and noted that Jack was looking a bit agitated. ‘ _He’s probably worried I’ll say the wrong thing and get us in trouble,’_ thought Ianto. “Sorry, we’re new to the area. I’m not sure if my friend knows Dorothy or not, but you could ask him?”

The other man looked at Ianto for a moment, then shook his head and walked over to Jack. Ianto watched as they talked for a few moments, and he was surprised when the man pulled out a chair and sat down. Both of them then turned to watch him, and Ianto could feel himself blushing under the combined stares. He collected the two drinks, smiled at the bartender, paid without difficulty, and walked back to the table.

Jack watched as the bartender served Ianto with a flirty little smile, and the immortal time traveller smiled with pride when he saw Ianto flash a shy smile of his own in return. _‘That’s my boy; I knew you could do it!’_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Tosh came back to the Hub several hours before her regular time, having woken up with an idea of how to get the batteries to charge quicker. The Hub was quiet, peaceful even, but as soon as she sat down at her desk, Myfanwy swooped down from her aerie and perched on the railing above her workspace. She looked up and saw that the pteradon seemed to be watching her.

“You’re missing Ianto, aren’t you? Well so am I, and Jack, too. It’s way too quiet without them. I know Ianto isn’t noisy, you hardly know he’s here, he is so quiet, but Jack, well, to say that Jack is noisy is an understatement!” Tosh looked up at the dinosaur again; she seemed to be listening intently to her words. “I promise, I will do my best to get them back for you, and for us.”

Taking care not to startle the prehistoric creature, Tosh got up from her desk and crossed over to Ianto’s. After a short search, she found his hidden stash of the special dark chocolate bars that he used as treats. “Here you go, girl. Just don’t tell Ianto, okay?” She quickly unwrapped the bar and tossed it out onto the Hub’s main floor, and then waited until Myfanwy had hopped off the railing and shuffled over to claim her prize before returning to her desk.

Tosh turned to the monitors and cried out in horror, a sound that Myfanwy echoed as she launched herself into the air. “The batteries aren’t connected to the grid!” she exclaimed. “They hadn’t been charging for more than four hours! How can that be?” Her fingers flying over the keyboard, she flicked through the programs and finally brought the CCTV up on the screen. With an increasingly sick feeling in her stomach, she watched Gwen knock over the keyboard and then carelessly shove it back onto the desk. She immediately noticed when the monitor went black, a clear indication that the batteries’ connections had been pulled out.

“Just you wait, Gwen Cooper,” she snarled out through gritted teeth. “If those batteries have been damaged, your life will not be worth living.”

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

Ianto returned to the table, handed Jack his drink, and then sat, waiting for Jack to introduce him. He was feeling unsure about having the man sitting with them, but Jack seemed unbothered.

“Ianto, this is Glenn; Glenn, meet Ianto Jones.” Glenn nodded hello and Jack continued. “Glenn’s just checking to make sure you’re okay; he‘s rather protective of this place.” Jack chuckled. “Actually, he tried to pick you up; thought you were here by yourself, but when you pointed me out, he came over and introduced himself. When I told him that we’re together, but new to the area, he started filling me in on the places to go.” Jack laid his hand over Ianto’s and smiled fondly.

Glenn looked between the two men, saw the depth and honesty of the affection they shared, and regretfully said, “No chance of getting my boots under either of your beds, by the look of it.” He stood up, smiled and left after saying, “But if either of you change your minds, I’m here most Friday nights.” Jack waved good-bye, still holding onto Ianto’s hand.

Ianto looked at Jack, puzzled. “He asked me at the bar if you were a friend of Dorothy; does he know the you of this time? Do you know, or remember, him?”

Jack chuckled, “Never met him before; he just walked up and started talking to me. When he came up to you at the bar, he was asking if we are gay. It’s a bit of a code; ‘are you a friend of Dorothy?’ is a covert way of asking, ‘do you like men?’. If the person doesn’t know who or what you’re talking about, then you haven’t exposed yourself. It was just a casual question. But, if they know what you’re saying, then it’s pretty safe to assume they’re one of you.” Jack shrugged; “it’s a safety thing.”

Ianto nodded his understanding; it made sense to him, although he was pretty sure he’d have answered the same way even if he had known about the code. _‘Sometimes, a little paranoia’s a good thing,_ ’ he told himself. As he sipped his drink, he looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be having a great time; there were couples at small tables, enjoying being with each other, and other larger groups of men, laughing and joking. Just like any pub Ianto had seen. “Jack, it’s so normal here.”

Jack held Ianto’s hand, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles, “Yep, and that’s what everyone wants, to just be normal, to be themselves.” They sat there for a few minutes, holding hands, relishing the contact that they would have to hide when they left their safe haven.

They finished their drinks, and stood up, ready to go back to their hotel to wait for their friends to rescue them.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

“Hey, Tosh, my love, have you any batteries?” Owen hollered from the autopsy bay.

“What sort do you need? You know I’ve my comms in so you don’t have to yell,” she replied.

The doctor walked up the stairs to the main Hub area. “But it’s fun to yell, makes the dinosaur screech.”

“You upset Myfanwy and Ianto will put you on decaf.” She looked through the drawers of her desk. “I have one, a triple A, and believe me, he would find out. What do you need the batteries for?”

“Yeah, he would, wouldn’t he?” Owen grinned, thinking about the last time he and Ianto had had words; he’d lost, of course. “My scanner got left on and the battery is dead. Reckon Gwen was playing with it, since it was placed upside down. It needs three triple A’s, though.”

Tosh nodded and continued checking the recharge program; she’d stopped paying attention to Owen as soon as she heard the word ‘Gwen’ come from his lips. She was still seething over the Welshwoman’s carelessness. Luckily, Gwen hadn’t come back to the Hub yet, so she’d been spared the worst of Tosh’s temper, but the matter wasn’t closed. Not by any means.

“I’m gonna check the Gwen’s desk; she may have some, or I can nick some from that horrible pink calculator she has.” He was at Gwen’s desk, rummaging through the drawers. All of a sudden he stopped. Tosh noticed the lack of noise and looked up to see the doctor standing there, holding a few pieces of paper as though he’d found a great treasure. He beamed with what could only be delight on his face.

“What have you go there, Owen?” Tosh’s curiosity got the better of her.

“You‘ll never believe this!” he crowed triumphantly. “She has written Mrs Jack Harkness, Mrs Gwen Harkness, Gwen Harkness-Cooper, Gwen Cooper-Harkness, it’s all over here! What is she, in high school?” He started to laugh, waving the papers over his head. “Oh, this is gonna be great ammunition! Can you scan a copy for me, please?’

He handed the papers to Tosh, who read it and laughed. “I’m gonna take a copy for Ianto as well, it will make him laugh.”

“Really?” replied the medic. “I thought he still got his knickers in a knot over how she fawns over him?”

“No, not since Jack came back.” She shook her head. “They have an ‘understanding’; seems Jack can flirt and he can look, but he’s not allowed to touch. It seems to be working out well for them, they’re both happier.” She smiled, thinking on how perfect the two men were for each other.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed they’ve both been more, I don’t know, ‘lovey-dovey’, but it seems our PC hasn’t noticed.” Owen looked over at Ianto’s desk, where the few items on it were laid out with near-military precision. “No point in looking through his desk. Never uses a calculator. Last week he was doing the monthly budgets and remits, no calculator. I asked him about it, thinking he may want to borrow one of ours, but it seems he never uses one, likes to keep his mind active. Tested him too, could add up lists of figures quicker than I could do it, and I had a calculator.”

“Yeah, it’s one of his party tricks; he has the most amazing mind.” Tosh was back to tapping at her keyboard. Once again the only batteries she was interested in were the ones that would bring Jack and Ianto back home.

Owen looked up towards Jack’s office. “There is no use checking Jack’s office, he doesn’t have anything that uses batteries on his desk. There’s probably some down in his ‘man hole’, there in a box under his bed,” and Owen shuddered. “I ain’t going through his sex toys to get batteries.”

Tosh sniggered. “They’re probably dead anyway!” she giggled and then blushed bright pink.

“Well, I have two half-charged and the one fully charged, that will give me enough for today, and I can get some new batteries in the morning.” Owen was about to take the battery from Tosh’s desk, when she suddenly grabbed his arm.

“Owen, you are brilliant!” She gave Owen a huge smile.

“Of course I am. So, um… what brilliance did I do this time?” He asked.

“Batteries, Owen! If you have several partially-charged batteries, they can be used like fully-charged batteries.” She could see that Owen wasn’t following her logic. “If you have four or five half-charged batteries, and you link them up, they should have as much power as two fully char...”

“...charged batteries!” Now Owen understood. “But will that work, can you charge several at one time?”

“Yeah, I can charge five just as quickly as I can charge two, and,” her fingers flew over the keyboard as she checked the archive list; “we have eight more down there. All we need is to drag them up here, link them together, charge them, which will take half a day at most.” She looked up at Owen, her brown eyes shining. “We could have them back by,” she looked at her watch, her mind racing as she calculated the time needed. “It’s just after midnight now, and once I’ve the batteries set up, they’ll take about twenty-four hours to charge enough. I can get all the linkages done while they are charging, so early Thursday morning!”

“You are just fantastic! Now, I’m gonna go and call in Mrs Harkness-Cooper to help haul up the batteries; you start doing whatever computer magic you need to do.” The medic grinned and picked up his phone, thinking ‘ _time for you to start pulling your weight, Ms Cooper.’_

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

The two men lay with their arms wrapped around each other, having moved to the larger bed. “Y’know, we should use two beds all the time; we can get up to more fun, messing up the beds.” Jack kissed his lover’s neck, snuffling into the warmth of him.

“Not if I’m the one changing the sheets! Washing a set of sheets every day is too much as it is, and yes, I could get more sheets, but I’ve not had the time to go buy any.” Ianto protested petulantly, his lower lip sticking out in a most enticing way.

The immortal laughed; the words his lover said may have sounded upset, but the tone was soft, not really complaining at all. “You do enjoy getting the sheets into such a state, don’t you?” He ran his thumb tenderly over Ianto’s lower lip.

“Well…” Ianto smiled shyly.

Jack rolled his lover over, kissing him firmly and wiggling a bit to get them in the position he wanted them. “Not the answer I was after Mr Jones. It seems I need to remind you of why you do the extra washing.”

Sometime later, the two men lay with their arms wrapped around each other again, sweaty and sated, with the bed thoroughly mussed up around them.

“So, Mr Jones, d’ya think that’s a good enough reason to do lots of washing?”

“Hmm, yeah, I guess it’ll have to do for now,” Ianto teased his lover.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

“Come on, Jack! I’m hungry and they said breakfast is only served til nine, and it’s half-eight already.”

“Coming, hold your horses.” Jack reached for his jacket and Ianto helped him on with it, stroking his hands over the shoulders and down the arms. “Ianto, if you keep stroking the jacket like that, there’s no way in hell we’ll be down in time for food this morning; lunch maybe, if you’re lucky, but definitely not breakfast.” He turned round and placed a kiss on the younger man’s lips, turned him towards the door, and slapped his bum, as if to get him going.

They both were laughing as they headed down to the dining room.

The remnants of a full English were on the table, and Ianto winced as he sipped his tea. “I really miss my coffee.” He put the cup down and looked at it woefully. “Tea is okay, but coffee...”

“Your coffee is the best in all the universe.”

“Really? Surely there is better, somewhere?”

“Nope, never had better.” Jack looked at his young lover, smiled and went to touch his hand. Both men realised what he was going to do at the same time and quickly pulled back their hands, knocking over the tea pot. A waitress bustled over, cleaned up, and offered to make them another pot. They declined, deciding to just sit and plan what they were going to do for the day.

“Well,” started Jack, “we need to pick up the rest of your clothes from Jaques, plus a hat or two, and some new shoes, I think.” He enjoyed looking Ianto up and down, contemplating shopping for him. He was always trying to let Ianto buy him stuff, but his Welshman was independent, and said it felt wrong to accept clothing and other things from his lover. _‘I’m looking so forward to spoiling you.’_

“Okay, Jack, that grin means you have something a bit sneaky planned; fess up.” Ianto looked at Jack with narrowed eyes.

“I was just thinking about going shopping with you. You never give me the chance to buy you clothes, and I do love looking at you in them…” Jack’s eyes took on a predatory gleam. “…and out of them.”

“Jack!” Ianto tried to stem his blush. “I know, but I’m not a girl or someone who needs to be ‘bought’. You have me, all of me, for free.”

“But I want to spoil you! Please let me.” Jack’s lower lip popped out in one of his classic pouts.

“How about I let you buy me stuff, but only if you let me buy you some stuff as well. That way it will feel equal.” Ianto looked at his lover and smiled.

Jack knew that Ianto was giving in, but only to make him happy, and in a weird way, that in itself made him happy. ‘ _Oh well_ ,’ he thought, _‘if it gets me the licence to spoil him, it’s worth it._ ’

“So it's planned then, shopping for hats and shoes, then lunch, my treat, no arguing, Jack, it’s your money anyways, and we’ll go back to Jaques this afternoon.”

“Fine by me.” They got up from the table and headed out into 1950’s London.

Jack had seen a hat store during his travels the day before, and he wanted to take Ianto back to try some on. He had imagined what his young lover would look like with a hat, and was itching to find out if his imagination was accurate. He believed Ianto would look good in one. “There’s a hat store called the Laird of Glencairn just a couple of blocks over. I saw it on the way to the bank; let’s look there first.”

Ianto nodded and followed his Captain out to the street. He was reluctant to let Jack pay for everything, but resigned to the fact he had no choice, _‘I better get used to it; unless I get a job here, I’m destitute.’_ Ianto snorted, and shook his head. _‘Destitute… I’m cut out to be a bum! Wonder what I could do to support myself?’_

‘Hey, what’s so funny?”

“Just thinking of myself as destitute and a bum, wondering what I could do in this time to support myself.” Ianto frowned; he wanted to reach out and grab hold of Jack, he was suddenly feeling so lost and out of place again. _‘Wonder how Jack did it, going from so far in the future to the 1890’s? Bet that was a culture shock, much more than my mere sixty years_.’

“Jack, how did you, do you, cope? Being so far out of your own time, I mean.” He realised too late that he shouldn’t have spoken like that while they were out in public; he quickly looked around, and was glad no one could have overheard his question. “Sorry, possibly not the best time or place to ask, but it just occurred to me, how difficult everything must have been for you and how different from what you knew.” Ianto gritted his teeth; he wanted to grab his Captain in a hug, needing to give the man some comfort, if only to placate himself by comforting Jack over what he had been through.

“It wasn’t as bad as all that.” Jack stopped and motioned them towards a walled garden. He pressed a button on his wrist strap and opened the previously locked door. “Come and sit down; you look like you need a bit quiet time.” He used the reduced space between them as they passed through the door to whisper, “You need a bit of Jack-time.”

Despite the delicious shiver that crawled down his spine, Ianto still felt the need to explain, to apologise. “Yeah, it just hit me; I’m only misplaced in time by a small amount, but you, Jack, you’re way out of time.” He looked around, and noting the park was empty, placed his hand on Jack’s leg. He was glad that Jack had chosen a bench that couldn’t be seen from the entrance.

Jack smiled at Ianto’s gesture, and placed his hand over Ianto’s. “Being a Time Agent, I had some training, so that helped. It gave me a general idea of how different it would be, as well as a couple of ways of dealing with culture shock. And I had been back to the late 1920, so it wasn’t so…” His voice trailed off as he looked into Ianto’s blue eyes and was struck by the trust he saw shining out of them. Ianto deserved to hear the truth from him, not just some easy words designed to make him feel better.

“No, it was bad; I can’t lie to you Ianto.” Jack sighed and squeezed Ianto’s hand beneath him, smiling when Ianto, in turn, squeezed his thigh tightly. “I thought I was going to the early 21st century and instead, I ended up in the late 19th. Bit of a shock, that; it was so primitive in comparison to everything I’d been expecting. But the worst thing was finding out that I couldn’t die. I didn’t know anything about being immortal.”

Ianto felt his heart clench as he listened not only to Jack’s words, but to the emotions behind the voice. He sounded so lost and alone, and Ianto shifted his position enough that he could press his leg against Jack’s. He would rather have gathered his lover into his arms and held him tightly, but he didn’t trust that someone wouldn’t enter the garden and see them. At least with only hands and legs touching, they’d be able to move quickly enough to not get caught.

“When I woke up that first time, on Satellite 5, I thought I hadn’t died, that the Dalek had malfunctioned or something. Dying and coming back was just too, too much to take in, so I tried to rationalise it. But it was such a hard thing to try and rationalise why I hadn’t. I was so alone; there wasn’t anybody I could ask. Rose and the Doctor were gone; they thought I was dead so there was no reason to believe they’d ever come looking for me.” Jack paused and looked out into the garden, not seeing the beautiful flowers and trees, but the sterile environment of a space station, filled with dead bodies and Dalek dust.

After a moment, Jack continued. “It took a few more deaths before I worked it out. I was the man who couldn’t die.” Jack stopped talking again, his eyes shuttered as he looked off in to the distance. Against his will, memories flashed through his mind, and he recalled each of those early deaths and the feeling of waking back up each time. He remembered the absolute shock at first, which, after a while, turned into grateful giddiness, only to become the exhausted resignation that he experienced now.

Ianto stroked Jack’s leg, not knowing what to say. _‘There’s nothing I can say that’ll change how Jack feels,’_ he thought sadly. _‘I’d give anything to be able to fix him, though.’_

“But, eventually I worked it out, and I thought that that was why the Doctor didn’t come back for me, he thought I was dead. I waited so very long for the chance to see him again, and I finally got it.” He turned to Ianto with a bit of a twinkle in his eyes. “You know the old saying, ‘be careful what you wish for’? Well, there’s more than a grain of truth in there, let me tell you! Anyway, when I found out that he had always known about me and that he deliberately ran away and left me on Satellite 5, it was a completely new sort of hurt, but I got over it, had no choice.”

“But,” Jack looked deeply and earnestly in to Ianto’s eyes; “I’ve learnt the most important thing, and it’s all because of you. You have to let yourself feel, to be a part of life instead of apart from life. Ianto, you taught me to love again, to not just be alive, but to live life.”

The younger man leaned forward, using his thumb to wipe the tears from the older man’s face. “I would kiss you, but here’s probably not the best place,” he whispered. “But you just wait till I get you home.”

“Promises, promises.” Jack chuckled, grateful for Ianto’s attempt to lighten the mood. He wasn’t sure how it had gotten so deep, so dark, so quickly.

“Oh, yeah.” Ianto sighed lustfully, his eyes sliding shut as his imagination threw itself into overdrive. “After what I have planned for you, you‘ll feel alive all right, very alive.”

They sat for a few minutes longer, hand on hand, relishing the comfort they were giving each other. Jack could feel a silly grin cross his lips and his heart swelled with gratitude towards the young man beside him.

“Ianto, thank you, for being you, for supporting me, for loving me.”

“Jack, I…”

“I know, and I do too, you know?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, enough for soppy!” Jack clapped his hands. “You would never be a bum, Ianto. You’re too smart for that. I know you could do wonderfully here; I believe you could make a mint, betting on outcomes of all different things. You already know what the future holds, and knowing your wonderful mind, you could be a millionaire in under a year.”

Ianto laughed, “Me, a millionaire. A boy from the valleys?”

“Yes, you, a handsome, smart, wonderful man from Wales.” Jack risked planting a small, chaste kiss on Ianto’s lips. “You can do anything you set your beautiful mind on.”

They sat for a few moments longer, and then Jack stood up, took Ianto’s hand and pulled him up so the two men stood chest to chest. Jack’s arms went around the younger man and they rested their foreheads together, the picture of love and contentment.

“Time to go and face the world?” Ianto whispered reluctantly, and then taking a big breath of air, he moved out of the warm embrace, recharged and ready to take on 1950’s.

At the garden entrance, Jack was suddenly reminded of when and where they were, and he reluctantly dropped Ianto’s hand, but not before pulling it to his lips. He placed a tender kiss of promise into its palm before wrapping Ianto's fingers around it. “Until later,” he whispered.

Ianto smiled at the tender gesture, nodded and they made their way out of the walled garden. They never noticed an elderly woman, on her knees and bent over, tending to a section of the garden. When she could no longer see or hear Jack and Ianto, she rested back on her heels, and thought about the love of her life. “Oh, Lottie, my love, I miss you,” she whispered into the wind. “How I wish I could have held you like that, in public, for all the world to see.” She continued to weed the small patch of flowers, her Lottie’s favourites, paying no attention to the tears that dropped slowly on their petals.

Jack hailed a taxi and off they went to the Laird of Glencairn. Jack had a ball, getting his ‘brother’ to try on almost all of the hats on display, as well as many other male necessities. Finally, they settled on two hats, two belts – one brown, one black – and a pair of butter-soft brown kidskin gloves. Ianto was not so happy with the hats. “Jack, I feel silly!” He protested, but Jack just smiled at him. “Really Jack, I’ve never worn a hat before, only a beanie when it’s been cold, and it feels strange, I don’t feel like myself.”

Jack’s grin only got wider, “Oh, I wish I could feel you up now! I bet you feel just like you always do, nice and...”

“Jack! The assistant is just over there, he may hear.” Ianto looked around, worried.

Shaking his head, Jack motioned to the store; it was devoid of staff. “He’s out the back, getting some handkerchiefs, white for you and I wanted some blue ones. When I noted there weren’t any on the counter and asked him if would go into the stockroom and find some.” He saw Ianto’s eyebrow quirk snarkily. “What? I wanted a moment with you.”

“You’re devious, and quite clever.” Ianto looked around; they were in a corner of the store, unseen by people walking outside, CCTV hadn’t been put in the shops yet, probably only in the development state, and the staff were indeed in the back. Unable to resist the challenge that Jack was giving him, he leant over and gave his captain a quick kiss, taking him by surprise.

“I didn’t think you’d do it!” Jack’s grin was large and reached all the way to his eyes. “Cheeky bugger, you be careful.” Ianto nodded and turned away just as the store clerk returned, hankies in hand.

They paid for their purchases and after arranging for them to be sent over to their hotel, they left, hat perched jauntily on Ianto’s head, off to morning tea.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

“Okay, Gwen, I’ve got it.” Owen let go of the marble, wiping yet more glitter on his forehead. He looked over at Gwen, who was covered, head to toe in a blue glitter that seemed to change colours, going from green to blue to purple, depending on the light. Owen had managed to miss most of this lot of glitter, as he was pushing the trolley up to Tosh. Gwen was supposed to have waited for him, nothing else. The last words Owen had said as the lift doors were closing were, “Do not touch anything til I get back.”

After they had taken up the first battery to Tosh, Gwen had complained that all she had done was walk up and back, she didn’t do anything, and she was trim and fit enough without wasting time just keeping Owen company. As a result, when it came time to ferry the second battery upstairs, Owen told her to just wait for him downstairs; he knew he was going to relish the time without her harping in his ear.

But Gwen being Gwen, and thinking that she knew better than anyone else, had fiddled around, and as a result, had managed to knock some of the shelves over in the classic domino effect. Luckily, despite obvious damage to other items, only one of the precious batteries had broken open. As far as Owen could tell, the others were still intact, but the mess she had made was appalling. When Owen returned to the Archives, he burst into laughter at the sight of Gwen; she was on her knees, trying to lift what looked like a book, but which was extremely heavy. He watched for a moment as she’d raise it a few scant inches only to have it slip out of her hands and back to the floor.

“Owen, stop laughing and help me!” Gwen looked up from the floor, giving up on shifting the book. She grimaced when she saw the state of her clothes. “I’m covered in this shit!”

“It’s your own fault, Gwen.” Owen had no sympathy for his team-mate. “And what part of don’t touch anything did’ya not get.” He looked around the previously immaculate archives section; the shelf housing the batteries had fallen backwards, pushing over the shelf behind it, which in turn had half-pushed over a third.

There were pieces of alien tech and numerous Rift artefacts strewn all over the floor, and Owen could see several items that were broken; he prayed there was nothing in that mess that shouldn’t be combined with something else. “Jesus, Gwen, do ya know what Ianto’s gonna do when he sees this mess? He’s gonna come unglued! I do not wanna be you when he gets back, cos I can just imagine all sorts of passive tortures you’re going to be getting!”

Warming to his topic, Owen rubbed his hands together with glee. “Let’s see, there’s always good old decaf, that’s definitely gonna be number one on his list. Then there’s making you do all your own paperwork; I’ll bet you haven’t got a clue how much of your work he does for you. Then there’s getting your least favourite foods for lunch and dinner, and giving you the cheap biscuits from the bottom shelf at Tesco’s; the list is endless.” He laughed even louder as he watched Gwen’s face fall as she imagined the coming weeks. “Ianto is one clever guy! Man, am I glad it’s not gonna be me this time.”

Realising that Gwen was looking up at him with her eyes wide open and a pout on her lips, Owen quickly dashed her hopes. “No, absolutely not. Don’t even bother to ask; I’m not covering for you. You’re on your own with this mess. Now help me, Tosh said she wants three more, just to be on the safe side.”

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

“Jack, Claridge’s?” Ianto had stopped a short distance from the famous hotel, feeling unsure and uncomfortable. “I don’t know, it seems, a bit over the top.” He could see the doorman, waiting patiently to welcome guests, and he was suddenly feeling quite out-of-place.

“Hey, they do THE best afternoon tea, and you deserve a bit of pampering.” Jack kept walking and Ianto had no choice but to trail behind him, still unsure.

Ianto decided to try a different tack. “But Jack, you have pampered me lots already today, what with the shopping and the clothing, and looking after me.” He waited until the doorman had returned to his post, and they were now inside the lobby, working out in which direction the tea-rooms were. “I don’t need extra pampering.”

“I want to take care of you, I enjoy taking care of you, and so I am going to.” Jack looked at his young lover with fond exasperation. “Ianto, you take a lot of shit from me, and from the others. I’m not an idiot, not all the time anyway,” he clarified when he saw Ianto’s eyes roll, “and I know that I sometimes take you for granted. This little trip in time has made me realise that. I want to prove to you just how important you are to me.” Jack had to fight the urge to take Ianto in his arms and hold him tightly. “Please let me do this for you.” They had been whispering at each other, cautious that others might overhear.

Ianto looked into the depths of Jack’s blue eyes and saw nothing but sincerity and love; the sight made his heart flutter happily in his chest. “Afternoon tea is served in the Tiffin Room, just over there.” Ianto gestured to the left. “According to the sign, service starts in ten minutes.”

The two men sat at a small table by the windows; their seats afforded them the perfect view of the people coming and going. The food and the service had been exemplary, and now only a few crumbs were left on the plates. Jack had devoured much of the afternoon tea, which began with savoury finger sandwiches and sweet petits fours. He had quickly moved along to freshly-baked raisin and apple scones, which were served with Devonshire clotted cream and strawberry jam.

It had all been delicious, but Ianto’s favourite had been the wonderful, memory-invoking butterfly cakes. They were just like his Gran used to make, but these ones were tiny and fancy, very fancy, with delicate icing and the most luscious cream filling. Ianto had managed to snag the last one on the plate, and was currently licking the last bit of cream from his thumb, totally unaware of the effect he was having on Jack’s libido.

“Suppose we have to get going soon?” Jack leaned back, stretching his over full stomach. Part of him wanted to take Ianto back to their hotel room and ravish him for hours, but the other part wanted to curl up with Ianto and take a long afternoon nap. Reluctantly, he decided that neither option was in their immediate future; there were still errands to be done.

“Yeah, I guess, were to now?” Ianto was also feeling the effects of eating so many cakes. “We definitely need to work this meal off, so I suggest walking to wherever we’re going.”

“Some shoes for you, then back to Jaques to pick up the rest of your clothes, and after that, Jaques has suggested a small club for us to go to tonight. I asked him to make reservations for us; it’s not the sort of place where you can just turn up at the door.” Jack smiled at his lover, happy to be spending so much uninterrupted time with him. _‘I must make time for us when we get back. This has been wonderful, spending time together, just the two of us, without Torchwood interfering.’_ They went to the till, paid for the meal, thanked the server and walked out of the hotel.

“Jack, that was fantastic!” The brisk afternoon air was clearing Ianto’s head of its sugary overload. “Coming here has been on one of my ‘to do’ lists for years, and it has certainly lived up to its reputation.” His eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him. “Wait, you read that in my diary, didn’t you?” He looked at the immortal, shaking his head in mock anger.

“Guilty, but you did enjoy it!” Jack smiled brightly, wishing he could hug him, but knowing it would be inappropriate, if not bloody dangerous.

“I’ll let you off this time, as long as you promise to help me with some of the others on my list, especially number...” and there was a wicked glint in Ianto’s eyes, “…thirteen.” He looked at Jack, who was thinking hard, trying to recall the list. “You don’t remember, do you?” Ianto laughed, thinking of the reaction he was going to get when Jack found out exactly what number thirteen was.

They made their way down Oxford Street, and went into a shoe store that had been recommended by the sales clerk in the hat store.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Tosh pushed her glasses up her nose and placed the soldering iron back on its rest. “Well, that’s it, all wired up.” She moved over to her computer and set the program running. “And now that that’s all done, there should be enough power in all those batteries by morning. We should be able to activate the device at about...” Tosh checked the figures on the screen, making sure the rates of charge matched her predictions, “at about 06:00, tomorrow.” She smiled up at Owen and Gwen, tired but happy.

“Great work, Tosh, see you in the morn...” Owen didn’t get to finish his sentence before Gwen rudely butted in.

“Hey, who’s been going through my desk?”

“That was me,” Owen held up his hand. “I was looking for some batteries to put in the scanner you had bee...”

“You have no right to go through my stuff, some of it’s personal.” Gwen huffed at the two of them, and then she blushed profusely when she remembered what she’d left in her top drawer. “You didn’t find anything, did you?” she demanded shrilly. _‘Oh_ ** _shit!_** _I hope they didn’t find the sheet of paper I was doodling on last week; I was so bored talking to Rhys’ mam.’_

“Nope, nothing we could use, you know, just ordinary desk stuff.” Owen replied, trying to look innocent.

Gwen looked hard at the medic and the technician; nothing was missing, or out of place, but she was still suspicious. “Okay, well, just stay out of my desk from now on, Owen.” Trying to be as sneaky as possible, she grabbed the incriminating papers and shoved them into her purse. “I’ll see you both here bright and early tomorrow so I can get Jack back.”

They both yelled, “And Ianto,” to her retreating back but she ignored them.

Owen and Tosh watched her leave and after the sirens on the roller door had finished, they both burst into laughter. “I’m so looking forward to showing Ianto what she’s written; it will make him laugh his ass off!” Owen was gasping for breath.

Tosh nodded, saying, “Not sure if Jack will find it as funny, though.” She dropped her glasses to the desk and wiped tears from her eyes. “Mrs Gwen Harkness! As if!”

Owen laughed even harder. “She has more to worry about with Ianto; you should see what she did to his archive room.” A sudden thought struck him and he turned to Toshiko excitedly. “Let’s follow her a bit on CCTV; she forgot she’s covered in glitter, should be good for a laugh.” They both giggled and Tosh pulled up the Cardiff CCTV feeds to watch Gwen’s shiny progress home.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

Ianto looked down at his feet, watching them take each step, and evaluating his new footwear. “Shoes haven’t changed much; well, men’s dress shoes haven’t changed much.”

They walked towards Kings Cross, having purchased three pairs of shoes for Ianto.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Jaques again; he’s a very interesting man.” Ianto looked at Jack, not wanting to ask the question, but needing to hear the answer. “Are you sure you never, you know, with him.”

“No, I never did, never worked out why; he would have been my sort of guy and I’m sure I would have tickled his fancy as well. We were just friends.”

Secretly pleased with Jack’s response, he asked, “What happened to him, how long did he live? Is he still alive?” Ianto looked at Jack, wondering what happened to the wonderful tailor.

“He stayed where he was. In the mid-sixties, he, by chance, ran into the Doctor, who offered to take him forward in time. The Doctor checked on him regularly and in the late 70’s he took him to the mid-23rd century, which was a good time for him.” Jack shrugged. “As far as I know, the Doctor offered to take him as soon as they met, but Jaques put it off. He had found himself a really nice guy by then, and he stayed here in London for as long as they were together. He left with the Doctor after Robert died.”

“So he did find love and happiness?” Ianto was very pleased to hear that.

“Yes, it’s all that anyone ever really needs.” He looked at the younger man, thinking, _‘I know that I would want to leave, run away, if_ ** _you_** _weren’t here. You make my life... happy, complete.’_

“Hey, Jack, cheer up, it not all that bad; it’s a happy ending for Jaques.” Ianto looked over to the alien’s shop just in time to see a man stride purposely over the threshold. He looked very familiar; the build, the hair, the coat. “Jack, stop! I think I just saw you go into Jaques’ shop.”

Jack grabbed Ianto’s arm and pulled him back into an alleyway. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure it was you, that coat’s hard to miss.” He frowned; “We can’t go in there, can we?”

“Well, I can’t, no, but you can. You go in and see if it’s me. If it’s not, wave and I’ll come in; if it is me, I’ll wait here for you while you get your clothes.” He pulled out the last of his money and counted it. “Here’s £200, it’ll cover the cost of your suits, but we’ll need to go to the bank on our way back to the hotel.” He handed the pounds over to Ianto and retreated deeper into the alley.

Ianto walked into the shop and yes, it was Jack. Jaques looked at Ianto, smiled and said “Hello Ian, have you come to pick up your order?” Ianto just nodded. It was strange seeing a Jack that wasn’t his Jack, and Ianto felt unusually tongue-tied, unsure of what to say, or even if he was able to string two words together. Jaques looked at him, noted how flustered he looked and suggested, “Why don’t you just come in the back here; I just want to make sure I have the right length on that jacket, I’m sure Jack won’t mind if we leave him unattended for a short time. He can spend his time contemplating nice arses, as is his wont.” Jaques smiled and led Ianto to the back room.

He led Ianto into the kitchen area; once they were alone and Jaques was sure that they wouldn’t be overheard, he smiled with genuine pleasure. “You have great timing, my friend. Jack just arrived, if you had been a few minutes earlier, he would have come in on you two.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ianto nodded. “I saw him as just he went through the door; we weren’t sure if it was him or not, so Jack, my Jack, sent me in. He’s waiting around the corner so that he won’t see himself.” Ianto was anxious to get back to his lover’s side. “If it’s all right with you, I’ll just collect the suits and get out of your hair. Here’s some money, it really doesn’t seem much, for what you have done to help us.” Ianto handed the pounds to the tailor, and Jaques looked at the wad of money, his eyes widening in surprise. He tried to push the money back into Ianto’s hand, but like a child, Ianto slipped his hands into his pockets, an impish grin on his face.

“Ianto, this is _way_ too much! I can’t accept this; I normally would only charge about a third of this for the suits and other clothing...” Jaques looked at Ianto and knew he wasn’t going to be able to change the young man’s mind. “You’re not gonna take any of it back, are you?” Ianto shook his head, and Jaques nodded and tucked the money in his pocket. “Thank you, Ianto, and please thank your Jack for me,” he smiled indulgently; “for the money and for introducing me to you. Jack is a very lucky man.”

They returned to Jaques’ workroom where the tailor gathered a stack of boxes. “Here are your parcels, and I hope you enjoy your night. The Address is on a card in the box. Please, come and see me again, if you are still around, although I rather hope you get back home, back to your time.” Jaques kissed Ianto’s cheek and they walked out into the front of the shop, where they found the other Jack sitting, pretending to read the paper. The immortal didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was thoroughly enjoying casting not-very-subtle looks at Ianto’s arse.

“You’re off then, Ian,” Jack dropped his paper and crossed to Ianto’s side in three long strides. “Don’t suppose I can convince you to join me for dinner, or...” The other Jack raised an eyebrow and smiled suggestively, clearly offering a lot more than just food. Inside, Ianto felt a delicious tingle shoot through his belly. Jack really was incorrigible, no matter the time or place.

Ianto tried not to smirk; his Jack was a bit more subtle. “No, thank you, Jack, but I appreciate the invite. Now, I’ve a gorgeous man I need to meet, and believe me when I say that he’s going to take me to heaven and back.” With that, Ianto smiled broadly at Jack, winked at Jaques, and then he flounced out of the shop without a backwards glance.

Jack turned to Jaques and asked, “How did he know my name?”

Jaques, who was having a hard time not bursting out laughing at the face on his Jack, could only shake his head and say, “You’ll find out in good time, old friend.”

Ianto was still giggling when he reached the alleyway his Jack was waiting in. The immortal took one look at the colour in his young lover’s cheeks and the mischievous gleam in his eyes and he felt the blood rush from his head to naughty locations south. “How did it go? Was it me?” Visions of their so-called ‘Weevil hunting’ exploits in the alleys of Cardiff flooded his mind, and he had to fight the urge – the need – to shove Ianto up against the closest wall and ravish him mercilessly.

Rolling his eyes at the obvious change in Jack’s physical appearance, Ianto grinned. “Yes, Jack, it was you, and you’re never gonna believe it, but you tried to chat me up!” Laughing, Ianto started to walk towards the main road, leaving Jack no choice but to force his libido into submission and follow.

“Here, let me carry one for you. Of course I tried to chat you up; I have always had very good taste.” Jack took a couple of the parcels and they managed to hail a taxi within a few minutes and were back at their hotel by six.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

Owen and Tosh were sitting in the conference room, eating the last of their take-away. He slurped down the last noodle from his carton and tossed his chopsticks onto the table before looking across at Tosh. “So, it will work?”

Tosh looked at Owen, “You doubt my ability? Yes, it should work, I’m nearly 98% sure it will work. I believe the only reason it would not work is if Jack isn’t wearing his manipulator, and I don’t think he takes that off even to sleep.”

“Or do other things,” added Owen with a grin which faded almost instantly as he said, “Ew! Pass me the brain bleach! I just had a mental image of Jack and Ianto doing it, and his wrist strap was being used as a sex toy.”

“From what I’ve read, I believe it could be used in various and, shall we say, avant-garde, ways.” Tosh smiled to herself, remembering some of the CCTV that had made it in to her private files; “very unusual indeed.”

“Way too much information, Tosh.” Owen shook his head, snagged a new food container and continued eating, trying not to look at Tosh as she phased out into her own little dream world.

It took several minutes for Tosh to mentally return to the conference room. “Okay, um, Owen, are you going to stay the night or come back in the morning? I’m staying as I want to check the batteries regularly to make sure they are all charging evenly.” Tosh’s slight blush faded slowly, and Owen thought, ‘ _she’s quite pretty when she_ ** _blushes_** _; maybe I should find ways to embarrass her more often. Nah, could be cruel, and_ ** _well_** _, yeah, I do try for that, but I don’t think I want her to think of me like that.’_

“Earth to Owen, are you staying with me tonight, or coming back in the morning?” Tosh asked again.

“Um, I think I’ll stay, I have to be in too early to justify going home, so I may as well just kip here.” Owen yawned widely, and Tosh nodded.

“Yes, probably for the best. You can use the couch; I want to stay near the monitors.”

“Sorted.” Owen smiled at the tech, who seemed surprised he was staying. ‘ _But_ ** _it’s_** _only to save_ ** _himself_** _driving back and forth, not because he wants to spend time with me.’_ Tosh sighed as she quickly gathered up the trash from their dinner and tossed it into the bin, noticing that it seemed unusually full. It took her brain several seconds to realise that without Ianto in the Hub, there were a lot of things that weren’t getting done, and she looked at Owen with a frown.

“Have you fed Janet or Myfanwy today?” she asked.

Owen stretched his arms over his head as he replied, “Not my job.”

“Well, it is tonight.” Tosh pulled the trash bag free from the bin and knotted the top. “You’d better get busy.”

“Nope, it’s Ianto… oh, shit!” Owen’s eyes widened as he realised the implications. Without Ianto in the Hub, there was no one else to handle the care and feeding of Torchwood’s resident creatures.

Tosh raised her eyebrows. “Exactly.” She relined the bin and headed for the door, trash in hand. “Janet’s kibble is down in the cell across from hers. Ianto always feeds her a heaping bowlful, plus a handful of the dog treats he keeps in that old biscuit tin. Oh, and don’t forget to add a capful of that canine breath freshener to her water bowl.”

“The what?”

“Ianto uses this stuff he gets from the vet’s surgery; it’s like a doggie mouthwash. It goes in their drinking bowl, and helps keep their teeth clean, too.” She giggled. “Don’t want her to have bad breath now, do we?”

Having been on the receiving end of more than one huff of horrid Weevil breath, Owen could only shudder. “Anything else Her Highness needs?” he snarked.

“Her cell should be pretty clean; I know Ianto mucked it out yesterday, but use your own judgement there,” she grinned wickedly.

“Stupid bloody Tea-Boy!” Owen groused. “If he hadn’t been trying to climb into Jack’s skin, he’d still be here doing his own work!” The idea of cleaning out the Weevil’s cell had definitely soured his mood. “Fine! I’ve got it.”

“Thank you, Owen.” Tosh smiled at the medic gratefully. “While you’re downstairs, I’ll get Myfanwy’s fish together, and then I’ll give you a hand getting it up there. Deal?”

“Deal.” Owen sprang to his feet; maybe staying over with Tosh wouldn’t be so bad after all.

They went their separate ways when they reached the main floor, and while Owen continued down into the vaults, Tosh crossed over to her computer. A few keystrokes refreshed the charging program so that she could check, for the umpteenth time, the progress of the batteries. Happy with what she saw, Tosh went into the kitchen, located the stash of expensive dark chocolate that Ianto kept on hand for Myfanwy, and then went to prepare the pteradon’s dinner.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Two men stood and looked at each other, handsomely decked out in freshly pressed suits, complete with matching hats and neatly polished shoes. While it was not an unusual look for the younger man, the older man was very rarely ever seen dressed so formally.

“Wow, Jack, you look fantastic!” Ianto eyed his lover, running his eyes over the body that was normally so well known to him, but tonight, it looked so different, “Jack, please say you’ll dress up for me again, one day.”

The older man looked at his lover, noting the dilated pupils and the slight blush on his cheeks. “If I knew it would get this sort of response every time, I’d wear a suit more often.” He kissed him and Ianto sighed.

“Never realised I had a thing for men in suits ’til I saw you. But then again, maybe it’s just you in a suit.” Ianto kissed him, hard, and then said, “we better leave this room right now, because your body and that bed are calling me, and Jaques said I would enjoy myself tonight. He said he made reservations for us, but didn’t say where.” Ianto’s eyes twinkled; “but I’m guessing you know, right?”

“Yes, he did, on our behalf. It’s not the sort of place you can go without an introduction. They are determined to have a place where men and women can just be themselves, with no concerns about other people and how they would react. It’s a very safe place.”

“Have you been there before?” Ianto asked.

“Not this one, no, but there’s another one, closer to the seedier end of Soho, that I’ve been to a few times. This one is, according to Jaques, very up market.”

“Hence the suits?” Ianto nodded approvingly. Any place that had a proper dress code was perfect in his books.

“Yep, and my word, you do make that suit look good.” Jack opened the door, glanced once more at the bed, then reluctantly led Ianto out of their rooms, and down to the lobby. He left Ianto browsing the evening paper while he went to have the desk clerk call them a cab.

The taxi took them to one street from the club. They couldn’t risk giving the exact address, in case the details were passed on to the authorities. As Jack explained to Ianto, “It won’t be us they catch, but in a raid, others may have their lives ruined.”

The club was behind a plain white door, with a very discrete push bell that if you didn't realise was behind the letter box, you wouldn’t know it was there. The door was opened by an elderly woman, who was dressed in the everyday clothes of a British housewife, right down to the scarf on her head and the pinney over her dress.

“What can I do for you gents?” She stood across the threshold, making it impossible to look past her.

“Hello, Mrs Cabbage, we’re here to see about the book for sale; I’m Jack H.” Jack looked at her and winked.

“Right, lovies, go through the house and you will find a door at the end of the hall, the dining room is there, enjoy.” She stepped aside and the two men went down the hall, past a few doors and in through the last one, just as directed.

Ianto could not stop his gasp of surprise when he stepped into the room. Behind the unassuming wooden door was an intimate dining room, with about ten tables set at discrete distances apart around a small dance floor. A four-piece band was playing softly at the rear of the dance floor, and half-a-dozen people were dancing, two sets of men and one female couple.

Two of the men were really not dancing at all, preferring to just hold each other tightly and sway in time to the music. The other male couple were unashamedly masters of the floor, dipping and swirling as if they danced together professionally. Ianto smiled at the sweet picture the women were making, as they giggled like schoolgirls, and both tried not to lead.

A waiter approached with a slight bow; “Gentlemen, if you would follow me, your table is ready.”

They were seated at a small round table, halfway between the bar and the dance floor. “Would you like to order a drink?” the waiter enquired. “We have an extensive bar, and want your stay to be as enjoyable as possible.” They ordered their normal drinks of choice, Jack, his usual water and Ianto, a beer.

Their drinks arrived along with the menu, and as they sipped their drinks, they studied the available choices. Ianto looked across the top of his menu at Jack, remarking, “I would have expected a more varied menu.”

“It’s the fifties, for one thing, and rationing has only recently ended. Plus, food hasn’t become such a status issue as it is in our time. Still on the whole, it’s good English food, and you’ll find it’ll be cooked to perfection.” Jack perused his menu.

The waiter returned and they placed their orders; Jack was having a pumpkin soup, with roast beef to follow, and Ianto opted for the same soup, but chose crumbed lamb cutlets for his main course.

“While we are waiting, why don’t we have a dance?” Jack stood and held a his hand out to Ianto. “Will you join me?”

With a smile that would shame the sun, Ianto rose from his seat and the two men entered the dance floor, hand in hand. They danced, cheek to cheek, with Jack holding Ianto’s hand over his heart, moving in time with the music, but in their own little world.

“I’ve really missed your touch, Cariad; I didn’t realise how much you touch me, until it stopped.” Ianto sighed and they rested their head together. “This feels so good, being in your arms right now.”

“I know; it’s been so hard not to reach out to you, even if it’s just to brush against your fingers when you hand me my coffee. When we first got here and I realised the time we’d fallen into, all I wanted to do was hold you. You looked so lost and I felt completely helpless, not being able to hold you, to comfort you.” Jack kissed Ianto gently and savoured the way his young lover relaxed against him. Jack would have been content to stay on the dance floor all night, just to kiss him more, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the waiter heading to their table, soups on a tray. “We need to get back to our table; the starters have arrived.”

“That was the best pumpkin soup I have ever eaten! What do you think they’ve done to make it taste so good?” Ianto looked at Jack, who was looking at his bowl. He knew instantly what Jack was thinking of doing. “Jack, you are not going to use your fingers to get the last little bits, not here.”

Ianto’s tone brooked no nonsense, and Jack looked up, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, you’re right, this really isn’t the place to do that; but it’s so delicious, I don’t want to waste any.” He ‘accidentally’ let one finger swipe across the bottom of the bowl, before slipping the digit into his mouth with a naughty grin.

Ianto rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. “Jack, your table manners are atrocious.”

“Something you have said before about my bedside manners, and you don’t usually complain when we are in bed.” He raised an eyebrow at his lover, who merely smiled and conceded the point with a small tip of his head and a smile of his own.

They looked around the room, and Ianto marvelled at how ‘normal’ everything and everyone appeared. If he didn’t know for a fact that he was six decades out of time, he would have sworn that he and Jack were simply out on a date in Cardiff. They could hear snatches of the conversation at the adjourning table. The man was rather flamboyantly dressed, still in a suit and tie, but wearing colours that Ianto would be more likely to choose, normally.

The man’s was talking away a mile a minute, but Ianto was confused; it sounded like some of the words were in English and some of the other words he could make out. It was spoken in an almost sing song voice.

_“I’m a feely ommes...we should zhoosh our riah, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar. In the bar, we could stand around with our sisters, vada the bona cartes on the butch omme ajax who, if we fluttered our ogle riahs at him sweetly, might just troll over to offer a light for the unlit vogue clenched between our teeth. Shall we?”_

Ianto looked at Jack, confusion on his face, and Jack smiled back indulgently; Ianto looked so cute! “He said ‘I am a young man...we should style our hair, powder our faces, climb into our fabulous new clothes, don our shoes and wander off to some fabulous little bar. In the bar, we could stand around with our gay companions, look at the fabulous genitals on the butch man nearby who, if we fluttered our eyelashes at him sweetly, might just walk over to offer a light for our unlit cigarettes we have.’

Ianto looked even more confused. Jack looked at him and said, “So bona to vada...oh you! Your lovely eek and your lovely riah.” Ianto shook his head in frustration; he hated it when he didn’t catch onto something right away. Jack explained, “I haven’t heard it for ages, but it’s Polari, a sort of Gayspeak. If you can get in trouble for what you are saying, make it hard for people to understand. Also, it helps you work out who’s on your side and who’s a danger. If they understand you, you know they are ‘gay’ friendly. You should recognise some of the words already, they are commonly used now, Khazi, bod, camp, clobber, barney, cottage and cottaging, naff, rough trade, scarper.”

“Toilet, body, effeminate, clothes, fight, public toilet used for gay sex, the act of sex in a public toilet.” Ianto nodded with delight; he did know some of it after all. “Umm, naff is awful, terrible, or old-fashioned, and rough trade is how you would describe a sex partner who is rough around the edges, or on a lower social level than yourself.”

Jack nodded. “And the rest?”

“Scarper, run away, leg it.” Ianto finished with satisfaction; once he understood, his balance was restored.

“Yep, got them all right! And I said ‘So good to see...oh you! Your lovely face and your lovely hair.’ I think my favourites were, or at least the ones I remember best, are basket, charver, dish, thews, carts, and plate.” Jack laughed heartily.

“Why so funny?” Ianto looked at Jack, waiting for an explanation and thoroughly revelling in the sight and sound of Jack enjoying himself.

“I just realised that most of the words I can easily remember liking the most all refer to body parts or acts of sex. Basket is the bulge of a man’s penis seen through clothes; dish is arse or butt; thews are your thighs; carts, or sometimes cartso, is penis, - while charver means shag and plate is fellate.”

“Yes, there is a certain theme going on with your vocabulary.” Ianto deadpanned and then his eyes took on a decidedly wicked twinkle.

“I know that look, Ianto,” Jack grinned. “What are you up to?”

“I was just thinking of messing with Owen when we get home!” Ianto chuckled. “He thinks he knows so much more than anyone else about women and sex.”

Jack threw back his head in laughter, just as the main course arrived, and he narrowly missing bumping into the waiter.

The lovers enjoyed a delicious dinner, and afterward, evening was spent dancing, touching and talking. They didn’t worry about what anyone else thought of them, they were just happy to be with each other. Finally, though, Jack realised that the room had emptied to just a few people, and he glanced at his watch.

“It’s after twelve, Ianto; we’d better get a move on, and I’m sure the owners will want to clean up and go home themselves.” Jack stood up, and Ianto followed, saying their farewells to the waiter, John, and to the barkeeper, George. Finally Jack turned to Mrs Cabbage. An hour earlier, once the front door was locked for the night, she had joined the room, and Jack had invited her to sit with them for a coffee and a natter.

While they thanked her for their wonderful night out, Mrs Cabbage walked the men to the door. “It’s always a pleasure to meet Jaques’ friends. He’s such a nice young man; reminds me of my boy,” she said fondly. “Come again, Jack and Ianto; I’ve enjoyed talking to you both,” and she closed the door behind them with a firm click.

As they walked towards the main street, Ianto commented on the evening. “I’ve never been comfortable with over-the-top public displays of affection, you know that, but not being able to do anything at all has made me realise how grossly unfair this time is. I have really missed touching you, or having you giving me a hug when I needed it. I just didn’t realise how much until tonight.”

Jack nodded; “It was so nice to just touch and act like we wanted.”

“I’ve decided that when we get back home, I’ll be like that always.”

“What! **Not** touch at all?” Jack was horrified by the thought.

“No! You daft man, I meant I’m going to touch, show and be who I truly am. No more worrying about the odd disapproving look and such. I am proud of how I feel for you. It – you – makes me feel good, and I shouldn’t have to hide that fact.” Ianto blushed.

“Sweetie, you’re one of the bravest, proudest men I know, and believe me, when we are home, everyone will know how I feel about you.”

Ianto groaned and shook his head in mock despair; ‘Oh no, I’ve created a monster!”

Jack frowned and then burst into laughter as they got into the taxi they flagged down.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

After spending several hours laughing and talking freely, the taxi ride back to their hotel was strangely silent. Ianto was thankful when they arrived and Jack had paid the driver. He knew he was being paranoid, but he had been sure the driver knew where they’d spent their evening. He was glad to see the taillights fade into the distance.

The moment they were in their rooms and away from the public eye, Jack pushed Ianto back against the door, leaning into him, and whispering in his ear, “My lovely boy, I want you so much! All that kissing, dancing, touching,” each word was punctuated by a kiss or a nip on Ianto’s neck. “I wanted to drag you home, or even into the toilet, to have you. To make you see stars, to make you forget your name.”

He slipped the jacket off his lover, who was doing his best to get his captain undressed. Hands were stroking, caressing, undressing. As body parts and bare skin became exposed, they were covered with kisses, nips and bites.

Jack released his lover from the door, manoeuvred him around and slowly walked him backwards to their bed, never once letting up the onslaught of kisses, licks and nips to his neck, torso and stomach.

Bodies hit the bed together, falling into the soft mattress, and eager hands quickly discarded pants, and there were mutual gasps, both men surprised by the lack of underwear on the other, and both taking full advantage of resulting nakedness.

Soon there was whimpers, moans of ‘faster’, ‘harder’, ‘don’t stop’, and then only grunts and groans, as coherent words could no longer be formed.

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

They lay there, exhausted, sated and nearly asleep.

“If we don’t clean up soon, we’ll get glued together,” Jack said as he traced a finger over an impressive bruise on Ianto’s neck.

“Don’t care, will peel myself off you in the morning, I’m feeling way too good to move. And Jack? That better not be a bruise you are stroking.”

“Opps.” _‘Hmm, got a little carried away there,’_ he admitted to himself. ‘ _Good thing Ianto always wears a collared shirt._ ’

“Doesn't matter; tonight I don’t care. As long as I don’t end up in Gaol because of it, who cares.”

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

Jack woke, looked at the time and nudged his lover. “We have to move beds, need to make the other one look slept in.”

“Don’ wanna.”

“Come on, or I’ll carry you.”

“Can’t, ‘m too heavy, ‘m sleep.” Ianto gave a huge snore to prove himself asleep.

“Oh yes, you are moving with me, I’m not sleeping by myself, up and at ‘em.”

“Murmff.” Ianto pulled the bedcovers up and over his head.

“Wrong answer!” Jack gleefully yanked the blanket away and flung it across the room before he grabbed Ianto’s arms, heaved him up and over his shoulder. He smacked Ianto’s deliciously naked bottom sharply and then carried him in to the connecting room. After throwing him down on the bed, Jack jumped on him, kissing him deeply and holding his hands above his head. He pulled back and looked down at Ianto with a predatory gleam in his eye. “Now, Ianto, you are at my mercy, and I do believe it’s time for the next round.”

\----ooooOOOOoooo----

“Time to wake up, Owen.” Tosh shook Owen’s shoulder, slowly bringing the medic awake. “I’ve already got coffee and muffins for us, and then I’ll get you to help me set up the device.”

“Umhh, what time is it?” Owen sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Just after five, if we start soon, it’ll be ready for just after six, that’s when the batteries will have sufficient charge.” Tosh explained as she walked to the kitchenette, with Owen following along sleepily. He was well pleased to see extra-large take-away cups of coffee on the table next to a paper bag from his favourite pastry shop. The thought occurred to him that Tosh had driven nearly twenty minutes one way to go to that particular shop, rather than just walking to the one right across the Plass.

“So, are we going to wait for Mrs Harkness-Cooper?” he asked, after a long drink of his coffee. “God, that hits the spot!” He tipped his cup to Toshiko. “Tah,” and downed another long draught

“No.” Tosh swallowed her bite of muffin. “If she remembers and gets here in time, well and good, but I’m not waiting another minute. Who knows where they were sent, they could be studying dinosaurs, or World War One, or any one of thousands of other dire events.” Tosh looked worried; until that moment, she hadn’t given any thought about where or when the two men had been.

“Yeah, or they could just as easily be studying free love on a hippy commune in the swinging 60’s, or be in some speakeasy during the Roaring Twenties! History isn’t just bad things, Tosh,” countered Owen as he polished off his first muffin and reached for a second.

Just then, alarms sounded as the cog door rolled open and Gwen walked in. “Tosh, is it time to get Jack back?” she yelled as she walked in.

“Jack and Ianto,” both Tosh and Owen chorused together. “Oh, no, did we forget to tell you that Ianto was transported as well?” Tosh added snarkily. Her unexpected tone of voice caught Owen by surprise and he choked on his muffin, spraying crumbs across the table.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, who cares.” Gwen waved her hand dismissively. “Tosh, how long?”

Tosh sighed and the replied, “Thirty-five minutes; we’re just about set up.” ‘ _Doesn’t she ever get_ ** _it?_** _Jack is with Ianto, he doesn’t want her.’_ She thumped at her keyboard, annoyed.

“Where’s my coffee?” Gwen looked around. “What kind of muffin did you get me?”

“I didn’t.” Tosh replied. “We didn’t know if you were coming in.”

Gwen huffed loudly and threw herself into her chair. “Well, that’s a nice good morning, isn’t it?” and she scowled at the computer tech.

Owen pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tosh, leaning in close to her so he could whisper, “Don’t let her get to you. Have a close look at her; she’s still all kinds of sparkly! She piled on heaps of makeup, but you can still see it.”

Tosh looked quickly at Gwen, saw what Owen was saying and put her head down, trying uselessly to hide her giggles.

“What? What’s so funny?” Gwen asked, standing with her hands on her hips, looking very annoyed.

“It’s nothing.” Tosh wiped a stray tear from her cheeks before continuing, “Not long now; the batteries are just synching up. From what I understand, it won’t matter if Jack and Ianto aren’t touching, the original burst of Seritian energy will have marked them, and that’s what the device will track and use to bring them back.”

Tosh hit a few keys and made an adjustment to the device before declaring, “Okay, are you ready? I’ve manipulated the co-ordinates, so they should re-appear right here in front of us, but if that hasn’t worked, they’ll return to the archive room. I’ve pulled up a live feed on the CCTV, so we’ll be able to see them as soon as they appear down here.

Owen crossed the fingers of one hand, while the other he placed on Tosh’s shoulder, in an uncharacteristic display of support. She glanced up at him, grateful for the gesture; she was really nervous; if this didn’t work, she didn’t know how they were going to get Jack and Ianto back home.

Gwen was nearly jumping up and down in excitement. _‘I’ve missed Jack so much and I’m sure he’s missed me even more, after being stuck with the Tea-Boy. I just know he’s gonna want to spend some private time alone with me. Good thing Rhys has a rugby match to watch tonight, so I can give Jack all my attention. Maybe I’ll tell Rhys I have to work, so that Jack and I can have the whole night together!’_

“Right, here it goes.” Tosh pressed the button, and waited.

Nothing happened; the Hub remained exactly the same. They looked at the CCTV, still nothing.

Then, a there was an intense smell of lemons and suddenly, Jack and Ianto appeared on the floor. Actually, it was a very naked Jack and Ianto, who popped into view, their arms and legs wrapped around each other, and their nude bodies barely covered by a sheet, well, part of a sheet, a very small bit covering a very strategic location while the rest of the sheet was missing. Several pieces of clothing was strewn around the Hub, as if they had been ripped from hangers or from the floor and just dropped.

“Oh, hey there! Nice to be back,” Jack said as he looked at his team. “Tosh, I guess we have you to thank for getting us back?”

The tech nodded slowly; she was stunned by how calm Jack was, despite the fact that he was lying on the floor with an obviously naked, well-shagged, and very embarrassed Ianto wrapped around him. Ianto looked like he was trying to hide behind, beneath or even inside Jack, anywhere away from the prying eyes of his team-mates.

“Hey, Ianto, it’s okay, we’re back,” he said softly to his bed partner.

“Umm, yeah, I can see that, Jack.” Ianto responded dryly. “Thanks, Tosh, for that.” Ianto blushed. “Umm, any chance someone could get us something to put on, or a sheet, or anything?”

Jack looked at him with deep affection and kissed the tip of his nose. “Ianto, remember what I told you? “You blush everywhere there aren’t clothes. See Tosh? You can back me up.”

Ianto blushed even more, and as no clothing seemed to be forthcoming, he pulled the remnants of the sheet around him as best he could and stood up. Leaving Jack in all his naked glory, the archivist mustered all the dignity he possessed and said, “I’m going down to Jack’s to have a shower and get dressed. I will be back shortly, and I will make coffee then.”

Jack sat on the floor, stark naked, watching Ianto disappear into his office, grinning broadly as every other step up the stairs revealed a flash of Ianto’s pert white bum. “Well, now that you’ve all seen what a lucky man I am, what’s been happening over the last couple of days?”

Owen sighed deeply and shook his head. “Jack, go get cleaned up and dressed yourself; you reek of sex. It looks like you two had a good time and here Tosh has been worried sick about the two of you.”

The Captain stood up and followed Ianto, while Gwen followed Jack until they got to his office. At the door, Jack turned and looked at her, a frown on his face. “Gwen, I don’t think Ianto will be comfortable if you’re in the office whilst he’s in my bunker.”

Gwen moved forward, trying to establish physical contact with Jack, but he stepped just out of reach. She fluttered her eyelashes and widened her eyes in what she thought was a seductive move. “But he would have gone down to the communal showers. I’ll come down with you and you can talk to me while you have your shower.” She lowered the register of her voice, trying to sound sexy.

“I have missed you so much, Jack…” and her eyes travelled down the length of Jack’s body. “And I know you want to tell me all about your time away. You must have been so lonely and afraid you weren’t coming back to me... to us, I mean.” Reluctantly, she looked up into his eyes again. Having followed the his perfect arse up the stairs and now having enjoyed gazing at the rest of his naked body, Gwen was almost desperate to get Jack alone.

Jack looked confused. “I was, and am, okay. I had Ianto with me, and that’s all I needed. If we hadn’t come back, we had each other, and we’d have been perfectly fine. I’m sorry you missed us, but we were with each other the whole time, and we were very happy together. That’s all that matters.” Jack could hear Ianto climbing up the ladder and he turned to look at the man, love clearly visible in his eyes. “Ianto, that was a quick! Oh, good! You’re not showered yet.” He ran his eyes over his lover, seeing the strange look on his face and wondering what was wrong.

“I thought I would wait for you; you coming? Gwen, why are you covered in glitter?” Ianto dismissed her with his eyes and turned to go back down the ladder. Jack followed him without another thought of Gwen, leaving her standing in the doorway, mouth gaping open as he closed the hatch behind him.

Gwen slammed the door to the office, nearly breaking the glass, and stomped down to the main Hub area. Her face was blotchy red and twisted with anger.

“What’s wrong? Gwen?” Tosh asked. “Are Jack and Ianto all right?”

“That... That... Ianto!” Gwen spat out his name. “He’s... he’s going to have a shower with Jack. What happened to Jack while they were gone? Ianto’s done something to him, he’s changed Jack and I want him back the way he was right now!” Her shrill voice rose loudly. “Jack wasn’t that way with Ianto before. That Tea-Boy was just a distraction, nothing more! They were only shagging until I...” She stopped, realising that the other two were looking at her. Tosh looked very angry and Owen looked deeply annoyed, mad.

Owen answered her first. “Get over yourself, Copper. They are together and have been for ages. How could you not see that?” The medic shook his head in disgust at her and dropped into a chair. “You can’t really be that stupid.”

Tosh continued; now that Jack and Ianto were safely home, she was determined that Gwen Cooper was going to learn a few truths. “Of course, if you ever came to work on time, or even God forbid, early, you would see them as they are off-duty, being a couple. Ianto spends more time with Jack than without him. More than half the time, they sleep at Ianto’s; Jack’s practically moved in with him.” Tosh looked at Gwen with cold eyes. “Jack is not after you in any way, shape or form. He already has exactly who and what he wants.”

“And it ain’t you, Mrs Gwen Cooper-Harkness,” added Owen, no longer able to contain his laughter at Gwen’s fish imitation.

Gwen screamed at them and ran through the cog door and up to the Tourist Information Centre forgetting her bag, mobile and most importantly, her house keys.

Owen held up her stuff. “She’ll be back, more’s the pity. But you gotta admit, it sure was fun putting her in her place.”

They laughed heartily as they began dismantling the battery assembly, and they were still giggling when Jack called them to the conference room for some of Ianto’s coffee and a tale of life in the 1950’s.


	17. Chapter 17

**Epilogue**

It was nearly three months after they had returned from the 1950’s, and it was the first time they had been able to take a couple of days off. Ianto had wanted them to do something special, something to honour a man who had suffered because of and for who he was.

They stood quietly before the memorial in Manchester, where the man in question had worked for a period of time near the end of his life.

Ianto spoke softly. “A part of the ring road here, a bridge, actually, is named after him; and this statue was unveiled on 23rd of June 2001, his birthday. It’s said to depict the “father of Computer Science”. Sackville Park was picked to house the statue because it’s about halfway between University of Manchester and Canal Street, the gay village area.”

Ianto paused and looked at statue’s face. “The sculptor chose to show him sitting here on a bench and holding an apple, which is a classically-used symbol to represent forbidden love. Not only is it the object that inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravitation, but it’s also believed to be the method of his own death.” When Ianto noticed Jack’s puzzled look, he explained, “He supposedly ate a cyanide poisoned apple. Seemed he love the classic story of Snow White. See that writing in relief? The text says 'Alan Mathison Turing 1912–1954', and the motto, 'Founder of Computer Science', as the words would appear if encoded by an Enigma Machine, 'IEKYF ROMSI ADXUO KVKZC GUBJ'.

The two men stood respectfully at the foot of the statue, and Jack read out the plaque. “Alan Mathison Turing - 1912 – 1954; father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code-breaker, victim of prejudice'. ‘Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty – a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture’. Bertrand Russell.”

Ianto looked at Jack and continued, “The sculptor buried his old Amstrand computer under here. It was one of the early popular home computers, and he said it was as a tribute to ‘the godfather of all modern computers’. In 1999, Times Magazine, named Alan Turing as one the 100 most important people of the 20th Century for his role in the creation of modern computers. The author stated ‘everyone who taps at a keyboard, opens a spread sheet or a word processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine.”

Ianto turned to Jack, who pulled him into a hug. “Just imagine what the world would have been like if he had been allowed to be himself. Not to have been persecuted and vilified. Just imagine.”

Jack gazed into Ianto’s eyes, ever grateful to the Universe for giving him such a special person to love, and to be loved by.

Ianto kissed Jack; he was so glad that he was able to be with the person he wanted to be with, to love as he wanted, to be free, to be himself. He couldn’t think of a greater gift.

They stood, holding each other close.

“Jack?” Ianto looked in his lover’s eyes, dark with lust.

“Hum, Ianto busy here, kissing you.” Jack was peppering Ianto’s neck with kisses.

“Do you want to go back to the hotel, and explore number thirteen on my ‘to do list’?”

Jack felt his knees suddenly sag when he heard Ianto's offer; he'd been so sure that his young lover had included number thirteen on his list just to be a tease. _'How does he even knows about that?'_ Jack wondered. _'I'm pretty sure it's still illegal on Trangalas 4!'_

"Jack?"


End file.
